Fixing the World's Most Dysfunctional School Idol Group
by Roxius
Summary: One day Honoka woke up in a strange new world. It looked exactly the same, yet everyone she had known and loved had inexplicably changed into their very worst. Eri an avid otaku, Umi a sexual deviant, Nico with the biggest curves of all! She doesn't know why or how this has happened, but with a certain fan's aid, she had to find out her purpose for being here. Tsubahono, etc.
1. Chapter 1

"La, la, la, la, la la la!"

Honoka happily sung a little tune to herself as she hopped and skipped her way to Otonokizaka Academy that morning. So far, even though it wasn't too far along yet, she had had a good day. The sky was blue and the clouds were lacking, the weather was warm, and as far as the second-year could recall, there were no dreaded tests waiting for her in class today. Better yet still, her mother had made pancakes, real pancakes, for breakfast, topping them with sweet red bean syrup straight from the family store's stockroom. They had been delicious, but even though Honoka herself had eaten a stack's worth, her little sister Yukiho seemed even hungrier than her. In fact, Honoka could not recall when was the last time she had seen her sister eat so much. She must have gobbled down at least seven pancakes in a row.

The longer she continued to think about breakfast, however, the more Honoka began to lose the stride in her step, and she'd soon slowed down to a sluggish crawl, the song having long since left her throat, as realization after bizarre realization pounded down upon her head.

Yukiho was obsessed with keeping a close watch on her weight, as well as trying to increase the size of her breasts. Something of a paradox, but it was what she did, and as far as Honoka knew, she'd been doing it well. Yet apparently this morning her little sister had decided to throw all of that effort out of the window and gorge herself on pancakes. In fact, her mother acted as if it had always been this way, giving the younger girl a much larger helping from the start. Honoka didn't normally look at her sister (not in a weird way, at least), but she definitely seemed more 'bouncy' than she'd ever been before. How could so much have changed over a single night?

No longer did this seem like a wonderful day. Instead, it was now a very, very confusing one. She wondered if she should discuss it with Umi and Kotori later once she met with them at the school gates. Normally she walked to school with them, but it didn't seem they were waiting for her outside her house like usual. That was yet another oddity to add to the list.

When Honoka did arrive to the school, having lost most of her luster for the day already, she was further surprised to see Umi and Kotori, the only difference from the norm being that the latter was dressed in the maid uniform from her cafe part-time job instead of their assigned school uniform. Umi seemed unperturbed by this, for some reason.

"Umi! Kotori! Good morning!" Honoka called out as she ran up to them. "Ah, uh, Kotori, why are you dressed like that...?"

Kotori shook her head. "Honoka, I thought you had agreed that you would call me 'Minalinsky' from now on until I made it clear otherwise. Please, don't confuse me with Kotori, we're very different. I don't like it when we're mixed up."

"Eh?"

"Honoka, I can't believe you were late again! You nearly made me late too!" Umi jumped in to chastise Honoka, so at least that was still typical. "You woke up so late this morning! It took me almost an hour to hurry back to my house and change into my uniform! You need to be more considerate to those who spend all night watching you sleep, you know! Please set your alarm clock earlier next time!"

"Ah! S-Sorry about that, Umi! I didn't mean to..." Honoka started to apologize, but as she processed Umi's words, she had to take pause. "...You were watching me sleep? All night?"

"...Uh-oh..."

"Umi, why did you say that? You couldn't seriously be watching me, right? Was that a joke?" Honoka had never heard Umi make jokes before, but she doubted that they would be so 'creepy', if she did tell them.

Umi started blushing. "A-Are you going to punish me now...?"

"What? Umi, I don't-"

"No, no...it's okay...you deserve to be mad..."

"Umi?"

Umi's blush was like a streak of dark-red slathered over her cheeks, and she started panting a bit as she began to babble on. "I remember when I did something bad to you last time, you actually hit me, spanked me right on my bottom. Honoka, if you could...if you could do it again...and harder this time...I wouldn't mind at all...! Kick me, slap me, punch me, sit on my face even! I deserve all the punishment I can get, now that I've let my secret slip!"

"I think we should head to class." suggested Minalinsky. "Umi, please keep yourself under control."

Umi shut her eyes and took a few deep, hasty breaths. She managed to calm herself by her sixth exhale. "Yeah...yeah...I'm sorry, Minalinsky, I was starting to get too excited!"

"It's okay, Umi. Let's go, Honoka. Neither Kotori or I are mad at you any longer for mixing us up, so you don't have to apologize. Best to forget about it."

Honoka stared after the two girls as they started to walk away. She didn't want to go with them. These two girls, even though they may have resembled her childhood friends on the outside, couldn't have possibly been the real Umi and Kotori. They had never been ones for jokes like this, they wouldn't have done anything like this to her without a good reason. This was strange, too strange. Her sister being all fluffy and pancake-starved was one thing, but her best friends behaving this way was actually quite frightening for her.

Honoka held back for a time,scared and confused and just about ready to walk home and hide in her room for the rest of the day. Umi's request for spanking was what really shaken her up the most. However, when the school bell rang, with very little else available that she could do, the second-year hurried inside the school building to attend class. Whatever was going on with her friends, whether it was a real joke (which, as stated before, was unlikely) or something was legitimately wrong with them, she didn't really want to have to risk getting a mark of absence for missing class.

Class itself played out as it normally did. Every now and then, Honoka cast a quick sideways glance at her friends. Umi was scribbling frantically inside her notebook with her head down. Kotori, or Minalinsky as she wished to be referred, was taking down notes at a much slower pace, but her pen-hand moved with an unmistakable grace. So far, they seemed normal in the classroom. Today was a meeting among the members of muse in the school idol club-room, though. She could only imagine what Eri, Nico, Maki and the others would say about Umi and Kotori behaving so peculiar. She hoped that her other friends would be able to snap them back to their senses somehow, someway.

* * *

><p>"Hey, everyone! How are you all today!" Honoka cheered as she burst into the idol club-room. She knew that everyone else had already gathered here before her, but with her responsibilities as student council president calling her in to work, she had to arrive late. At least this time she checked for Umi spying on her while she was shuffling the files around.<p>

Unfortunately, Honoka was greeted not with equally enthusiastic cheers, but instead a rolled up ball of paper flung directly into her face.

"Not so loud, wan! You're going to give me a headache!"

"Hey, leave her alone!"

"Hmph...I...I wasn't going to throw it at her on purpose, wan...I just got pissed because she was so loud..."

Honoka rubbed her aching nose; it had only been bruised, nothing serious. Glancing around at those who were seated at the table, she began to wonder if she had stepped into the wrong room by accident. This wasn't right, nothing about this was right. She couldn't even recognize some of these people, but apparently they were the friends she had grown so close to over the past year, working themselves down to the bone to make themselves the top-ranked school idol group. Honoka remained standing in the doorway for a few seconds longer, her hand clasped over her nose. The terror she had experienced this morning in front of Umi and Minalinsky was heightening further.

A young woman with long orange hair, a lily hair-clip and thick make-up started to tap a fingernail against the table. She looked like one of the most girlish girly-girls that Honoka had ever seen. "Honoka, are you going to sit down, wan? Let's get this show on the road! I have a meeting with my girlfriends at the massage parlor, I don't want to miss it, wan-wan!"

"Stop picking on her already! Why even come here if you don't give a damn?" snarled the girl sitting beside her, who was decked out with spiky, gelled hair and a leather jacket worn over her uniform. She jabbed an angry finger at the other girl through her finger-less gloves. She had purple eyes and her hair was brown with purple and red streaks running through it. Despite these obvious signs, Honoka still had trouble believing that this angry young woman was actually Hanayo.

"I can't stay too long either." remarked a half-Russian blonde as she placed her game handheld back into her bag, which was adorned with an image of a smiling Hatsune Miku. "I need to hurry downtown to get in line for the new Gundam models coming out! It's going to be a midnight release and I've been waiting all month for it! Nozomi, do you want to come?"

Nozomi was busy fiddling with her phone. "Sorry, I can't, Erichi. Busy."

"I see. I should bring a charger for my game then. What about you, Nico? Are you doing anything?"

A woman, not a teenage girl, appeared to be sitting in Yazawa Nico's seat. She wore the same pink sweater as Nico, she had her hair tied into a pair of pigtails like Nico, but she certainly couldn't have possibly been Nico herself. Her outward appearance made her seem to be an exceptionally tall woman in her mid-20s to early-30s. Her curves, from her incredible bust that jut out far like a pair of balloons strapped to her chest, to her vase-shaped legs and full lips, made it that she properly belonged on the front cover of a magazine about gravure models than being here as a high school student. 'Nico' glanced up from filing her nails.

"No, I'm not very interested. I have to watch my siblings tonight anyway." she replied; she even had the voice of an adult. She crossed her legs and suddenly, a shriek of pain arose from underneath the table. Umi embarrassingly crawled out on her hands and feet, a camera strapped over her neck.

Nico clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Taking photos of my panties again, huh? You pervert!"

"S...Sorry..." Umi rubbed her face as she got back onto her feet and returned to her seat again. "I did a bad thing...so would you...?"

"I'm not sitting on your face!"

"Come on, guys! Let's not all fight! We can still have fun being idols! Can't we? Can't we?" Maki shouted, waving her arms about and essentially behaving like a hyperactive child.

Honoka felt like she wanted to scream.

"Honoka, just take a seat and we can start the meeting. Don't worry about any of them." Minalinsky reassured her from the seat beside her.

"Ah...o-okay...thanks, Ko - er, Minalinsky...but do you know why everyone is acting this way to begin with?" Honoka said.

Minalinsky stared at her. "Honoka, I'm wearing my normal school uniform. I'm Kotori, not Minalinsky. Are you telling me that you can no longer tell the two of us apart? It should have been obvious to you."

Honoka looked her friend up and down. True, she seemed to have ditched the maid outfit and returned to the normal school uniform.

"S-Sorry."

"Please, Honoka, you're making Minalinsky and I very upset. You wouldn't want to make Minalinsky upset." Kotori replied, clearly giving a warning of potential danger, and then she said, "Did you hit your head or something when you woke up this morning? You've been acting very odd so far. You do know what we're talking about today, don't you? Why everyone is in a bad mood too?"

"I wouldn't mind if you refreshed me," Honoka smiled sheepishly.

"It's because we lost entering the Love Live, wan!" Rin interjected.

"What? We...lost?" Honoka was not sure of many things, but one thing she could bet on that she would not forget was that their team was supposed to be qualified to perform in the finals of the Love Live against A-Rise.

"Yeah! We looked like a bunch of fools up on stage, wan!"

"I...I tripped and showed my butt to everyone..." Hanayo grumbled under her breath, a blush looking rather out of place on her intimidating visage.

"It was not one of our best days," Eri remarked with the shake of her head and a sigh.

Nozomi snapped her cellphone shut. "My boyfriend thought we looked like a bunch of dorks."

Nico continued to run her file over her fingernails as she spoke. "Even worse, that awful announcer, can you believe her? What a bitch! She said we were the 'most dysfunctional school idol group that she'd ever seen'!"

"I couldn't even get any of our fans to meet me in the backroom..." Umi sighed.

"At least I had fun, though!" Maki giggled.

"So, Honoka, what are we going to do next? And remember, I'm Kotori, not Minalinsky."

Honoka didn't know what to say. She didn't even know what was going on right now. She could only stare, helplessly shrinking into herself, as the many familiar-turned-strange faces glared back at her.


	2. Chapter 2

Honoka sat at the head of the table with her legs crossed and her arms folded, eyes shut as her forehead wrinkled. She knew that she had to say something to them all, anything, but she was so awfully confused and frightened and sad that she didn't know what to start with. If she tried asking her friends why they were all behaving this way, if this was some kind of joke made up between the members behind Honoka's back, she would likely receive the same offended looks and angry remarks that she had gotten from Kotori and Umi earlier on. Whatever was happening to the people in her life, they all thoroughly believed that things had always been this way. Honoka wasn't very smart, but she could tell at least that much seemed to be true. She looked from Kotori, to Umi, to Rin, to Hanayo, to Maki, to Nozomi, to Eri, and lastly onto Nico. She needed to treat them like they were friends, the friends she had known for so long.

"So then, what do you all think we should do next? Ha ha ha...ugh." Honoka immediately regretted ever thinking that her brain and her mouth could ever work in proper conjunction together. She wasn't capable of handling this on her own. Unsurprisingly, Rin was the first to jump at her; for some reason, she seemed quite anxious, her nerves already at their breaking point, and although she spoke while infusing the sound of a dog's bark at the end of most of her sentences, she still terrified the older girl who how ferocious she behaved. It really reminded her of a snapping dog behind held back by the thin of its leash.

"What do you mean? You're the one who brought us all together, wan! You tell us, wan-wan!"

Hanayo slipped a thin stick of chewing gum into her mouth, chewing it thoroughly before blowing a bubble. "Get off of her back, Rin. We just failed the biggest night of our lives, of course we need to figure out what to do. We can't expect Honoka to do everything."

"Do you have to have a remark for everything I say, Kayo-chin, wan?" Rin asked.

Hanayo's expression suddenly darkened. "...If only you'd stop still calling me 'Kayo-chin' first..."

Rin opened her mouth, shut it, opened it again, and then shut it once more. Deciding better than continuing the conversation, whether it was for Hanayo's sake or her own, and returned to her cellphone, texting her friends and informing them she may be a bit late to their get-together after school. Hanayo gripped the sleeves of her jacket just a little tighter. Clearly, there was tension between the two, and Honoka didn't want to go dipping her toe into this mess either, so she let them be for now.

"Maybe we're not cut out to be idols? It seemed so fun at first, but if we're just going to keep failing, why even bother? It's just going to damage Minalinsky's self-esteem, not to mention my own." said Kotori.

Honoka started to fret. Morale was dropping too fast for her to catch. The other girls were beginning to nod their heads to show their affinity for Kotori's words.

"We only get one more chance to enter the Love Live, in the winter, but what could we possibly do? Actually improve ourselves enough to be competent in that short amount of time? As if." Nozomi noted.

Eri spoke up, "There might be a chance...but oh, so many new anime I've been wanting to watch come out during those months, I wouldn't be able to focus on idol practice at all. What awful timing."

"Maybe we can do it! There's nothing we can do but try!" Maki exclaimed.

Nico offered up a lame shrug. "I'm no super idol anyway, and I hate getting sweaty. When you have tits this big, the under-boob sweat and the bra strap digging into your back are enough to make you want to tear your hair out!"

"Under...boob...sweat..." Umi started panting again.

"You're not getting any of it, I can tell you that right now! Geez, why do we keep you around? Your friends must really pity you."

Umi fidgeted nervously in her seat and she trembled from the insults, head hung, but she didn't dare say anything, like her lips had suddenly been zipped tight. Nico scowled at her.

"I...I think Maki...I think she has the right idea!" Honoka spoke up, her thoughts somewhat jumbled but still more collected than they had been minutes ago. "We can't give up just because of one failure! We have another chance at going to the Love Live! It's all we could have asked for! Don't you want to take that chance?" Honoka wondered if she sounded foolish saying these things, when she had hardly been much of a capable leader to them in the past. She couldn't do this if she was the only one standing up for the sake of the group.

There were murmurs and grumbles among the other girls. Not even Kotori or Umi dared to meet her gaze at that moment.

Honoka faltered. "Please, girls...c-come on..."

"Honoka, maybe we just need to take a break from idol club." suggested the silver-haired girl beside her.

"A break? But the Love Live...!" Honoka wondered if this is how her friends felt before, when she had told them that she didn't want to try for the Love Live again.

"We all have a lot of things we need to focus on, wan!" Rin said, brushing back some of her long, silky hair. "I, for one, am aware that being a school idol is only something temporary, and if I plan to grow up to become a professional model one day, I don't intend to let my precious time go to waste with singing and dancing, wan-wan! Looking cute is all I need."

Hanayo stood up from her chair. "I'm going to go tend to the school alpaca. Don't wait up."

"You sure you don't want to come along, Kayo-chin, wan?" Rin asked, even though she wore such a harsh glare.

Hanayo shook her head. "No. And don't call me 'Kayo-chin' anymore."

"Ah! Wait! Please hold on!" Honoka pleaded to them. "The meeting only just started!"

"I want to still be an idol!" Maki squeaked from the back of the room.

"Okay, so what do we do then, if we are still going to try to be some top-ranked school idol group? How do we get properly prepared for it? Do we just do the same exercises we've always done? If we're going to do a new performance, we need both a new song and a new dance routine!" Nico exclaimed.

"I thought you weren't interested in being a school idol? And something about boob-sweat?" Eri asked.

"I...I only said I didn't care about being a super idol, not a SCHOOL idol! And the sweat, well, it happens sometimes, and if it's going to be getting colder out, then I won't have to worry about sweat as much. I already wasted enough of my time in this damn club with you people, and apparently having club participation helps with college resumes...so I'll see it through to the end...begrudgingly." Nico took a quick sideways glance at Maki after she spoke.

"Okay, we have Nico and Maki on for continuing!" Honoka was so relieved, she almost wanted to start weeping. Maki seemed more out-going and lively, like the original Rin, so her participation was less of a surprise, but Honoka had truly expected this new Nico to be the first to turn her down. She might still have a chance to save this, whatever it was she was trying to save in the first place "What about the rest of you?"

"I'll go! I'll go too!" Umi exclaimed near at the top of her lungs. "I'll do it for you, Honoka!"

"Heh heh, uh, th-thanks, Umi! Happy to have you aboard!"

Umi blushed. "Ah, b-being praised has its benefits too!"

Hanayo had already opened the door and had one foot in her the hall. "Like I said before, I'm going to go take care of the alpaca." She stepped out and shut the door behind her, disappearing. For a brief moment, silence fell upon the remaining girls, and it hung like there like a pregnant cloud, eventually punctuated by Rin's own voice.

"I have a date at the massage parlor with my friends! They can't wait too long, or else they start getting snappy, like little dogs, wan-wan! I'll be seeing you guys later, wan." Rin was already preparing her bag to leave as well.

"Rin, please! We don't have to give up yet!" Honoka exclaimed.

Rin sighed. "Okay, Honoka, fine, since you won't stop, wan! I'll come back to the next club meeting, but I'm going to need some real convincing to keep going with this 'school idol' bit for any longer, understand, wan?"

Rin swiftly took her departure as well. Honoka was crestfallen. She looked to Kotori, or Minalinsky, or whoever she was right now, and she silently hoped that her childhood friend would at least reconsider her suggestion of 'taking a break' for a while longer. Kotori, as expected, was quite uncomfortable with the spotlight suddenly being shifted on her. She scratched her cheek and sheepishly grinned.

"Um, I don't know what Minalinsky's opinion is about it yet. I'll ask her about it, and...and I'll get back to you tomorrow, Honoka. I promise!"

Honoka sighed. Not even Kotori could stand by her side anymore. Just what was going on?

"I-I'll find out whether the anime I'm looking to watch are actually any good, so maybe I can still help out with the idol club too!" Eri volunteered, which did help make the center feel a little better.

"I might drop too." Nozomi said.

"Are you sure, Nozomi?" Eri started to reach out to her. "Hold on...I know I mentioned anime and model-collecting would be keeping me busy, but I'd be a lot more inclined to stay with this school idol group if I knew my best friend was going to be here too!"

Nozomi pulled her arm back before Eri could touch it. "Whoa there! Eri, wait a minute!"

"Oh, that's right! You don't like me touching you. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

The purple-haired young woman heaved a sigh. "It's alright..."

"Nozomi, are you really going to leave? At least come back for one more meeting! I'm sure Honoka will figure out what we can do!"

"Hmm...if you're sure, Erichi..."

Honoka gulped. It was also strange, among everything else that was exceedingly bizarre about this situation, that the other members of muse seemed to rely on her and her decisions more than ever before. Most of the time, back in the past that seemed so sweet now, she either went ignored or her suggestions were taken with a grain of salt. Now it was like they were depending solely on her to give a good reason why muse may still have a fighting chance at making it to the Love Live.

With a few members gone (Eri later had to excuse herself to get in line for the new models, apologizing for doing such after expressing support for the idol group's cause) and not much left to discuss without having everyone present, the club meeting had little other reason to continue carrying on. When Honoka finally left that room and stepped out of the school and into the fresh, open air, she suddenly felt like she'd been in the middle of a battlefield for the past hour and a half. She was exhausted, mentally and emotionally, even a little physically.

Nozomi was the first who happened to exit the school building after the second-year.

"Ah! Honoka, this is good timing! I was about to text Erichi to ask her, but when is the next meeting for the club?"

Honoka needed something, anything, to tell her that her life wasn't completely flipped upside down. She needed consistency, she needed familiarity. Anything at all that would be the same as the old world, where her friends were concerned. She didn't want to have to go to such awful lengths as this to try and find that sliver of hope, but if it had to be done, then she would do it willingly and without beating around the bush. She turned to face Nozomi.

"N-Nozomi! Please...I present my breasts to you! Squeeze them and tell me to cheer up already!" Honoka cried, thrusting her chest out and holding her arms wide open. The tears were about ready to run down her face.

Nozomi shrieked. "Honoka! What...what are you doing! Breasts? Squeezing? Why in the world would I want to do that?"

"You've always loved to do it when we were 'misbehaving', Nozomi!"

"I'm not gay, Honoka! I don't want to t-touch girls' breasts! I'm...I'm not gay! I'm not!" Nozomi yelled back at her. "Are you trying to imply that I am? How dare you! How DARE you...!"

Honoka faltered. She had never seen Nozomi scream, or look so distressed, as far back as she could recall in all of her memories. "What?" it was all she could manage to gasp out.

The third-year, in a frantic, slapped Honoka across the face, hard enough to nearly send the poor other girl reeling to the floor. Nozomi dashed away and off of the school grounds. She continued to proclaim under her breath that she was not a homosexual up until her quieted voice was too far away to hear.

Her cheek still throbbing, Honoka stood in place and watched her leave. That was probably one more person she'd made want to give up being a school idol now. This meant even worse things as well. For Nozomi to reject the chance to freely grope and tug at another woman's breasts, that was the final straw to convince Honoka that she was no longer in the same world as she had been in before going to bed last night.

She did not know how this had happened, why this had happened, or even if this could potentially happen. She didn't know the answers to any of those questions, nor could she begin to hypothesize such answers.

She could only wonder one thing now: was she the one person that had gone unchanged last night?


	3. Chapter 3

After leaving the school, instead of going home to her bouncy sister and her pancake-making mother, Honoka went to her usual spot whenever she was feeling contemplative, a very rare but not unheard of state of mind she sometimes experienced. She looked out from her little bench at the reflective surface of the lake, which the sun's rays shone brightly off of, making it appear as if the water itself were sparkling. Honoka sighed. She really didn't know what to do, and the surrounding atmosphere was not aiding her nearly as much as she had hoped it would. All in all, she could say, with certainty, that she was lost when it came to knowing what to do next.

Kotori and Minalinsky were two personalities in the same body. Umi, once so sweet and innocent to a ridiculous fault, was now the absolute worst pervert imaginable. Eri had become an anime lover so unashamed and unafraid of displaying her numerous fandoms that she walked around with a schoolbag featuring her favorite virtual idol. Nozomi was trying to keep inside the closet, failing at doing so, and she was incredibly insecure about it. Nico hardly looked like her own age, with breasts almost bigger than her head. Rin was a loud-mouthed tsundere who cared more about fashion than her friends. Hanayo was a delinquent, the kind that Honoka hadn't thought existed anymore except in old manga or tv shows. Maki was basically the old Rin now.

Honoka buried her head in her hands. Could things possibly get any worse...and how could they potentially get better in any way?

"Kosaka Honoka. I should have known I'd find you here again."

Honoka looked up. She nearly let out a shriek, which would have caught the attention of passer-by.

"T-Tsubasa...!"

Kira Tsubasa smiled back at the other girl. She took the empty space on the bench beside her. "Funny, how we both have the same spot we like to go when we need to think. It must be fate."

"Tsubasa..." Honoka inched a little further away from the other girl, who was still clad in her UTX school uniform. Her excitement of seeing her rival turned friend quickly turned into fear when she recalled all of the oddities occurring with her friends today, and she could only rightfully suspect that the same alterations had been done to Tsubasa as well. If the old Tsubasa had been cool, smart, sweet, admirable, kind, talented and all-around incredibly awesome in almost every single way possible, then this Tsubasa...Honoka braced herself for facing with the very worst yet.

"Honoka, I want to ask you something." Tsubasa said.

"W-What is it?" Honoka hoped the other girl wasn't about to ask her what she feared was about to be asked.

"Please tell me the truth and nothing but. Can you do that?"

"Um...y-yes..."

"Are you aware of the oddities regarding the people of this city recently? Anju, Erena, even my family have been behaving so bizarrely, I had to come here to think things through, and it was by coincidence that I ran into you here now. Like I said, it may have been fate. This is why I am sincerely hoping that you are still the same, that you are the same old Honoka that I had known from the night before I woke up this morning."

Honoka nearly burst into tears as she flung out her arms and embraced the leader of A-Rise right then and there.

"Tsubasa...!"

"Whoa!"

"You're the best, Tsubasa!" Honoka wailed.

"Th...thank you...?"

"You're normal! You're normal! You're still..." Honoka finally let the tears flow as she buried her face into Tsubasa's chest. She began to freely weep aloud, so relieved was she to know that she wasn't truly alone in this strange, new yet unnervingly familiar world. For a time, Honoka had been utterly convinced that she was alone, but if at least one person she knew was still the same as before, then there was a chance that things might end up alright after all. She continued to cry, and her chest started to burn from how hard she sobbed.

Tsubasa nervously glanced around the area to make sure that they weren't being assessed by any curious passerby. Honoka eventually calmed down, after the other girl offered a few comforting pats on her head.

"S...Sorry, Tsubasa...I was just...so happy to see you..." Honoka sniffled.

"You? Happy to see me?" Tsubasa smiled wryly. She appreciated Honoka being so ecstatic about the fact of her presence, but she wished that the center would have warned her first before she did it.

Honoka wiped the glistening tears out of her eyes. "I was afraid that what happened to my friends had happened to you too...I thought I was going to be all alone in this world..."

"Your friends changed as well? So then this is actually quite widespread. It's much worse than I initially thought." Tsubasa remarked.

"W-What are we going to do...?" Honoka really needed a tissue. Tsubasa reached into her chest-pocket and handed one over to the girl.

"We need to figure out what exactly is going on first, or how we're going to go about this. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem like our friends are even aware what's happened to them, or that they acting 'out of the ordinary'. It wasn't planned, at least not by them or even by their own choice."

Honoka blew into the tissue.

Tsubasa tilt her head a little, letting her hair hang off the side. She thought about their situation. "Actually, there's even more possible theories I could discuss with you, Honoka, if you have the time."

Honoka nodded as she wiped the snot from her nostrils. "I do. I have the time, I mean!"

"That's good to hear. I don't know for sure why or how we are stuck like this, but you might be the only person who can help me figure it out, so...I'm very happy that I ran into you too, Kosaka Honoka."

That familiar red heat started to creep its way across Honoka's cheeks, so she said nothing in response, least she let her tongue accidentally give too much away.

"I think we should discuss this in a more comfortable setting, though. A park bench is fine, but we need a place where we can be alone to collect our thoughts."

"Huh...?"

"Who knows? Talking about such matters like the state of our world out in public like this...it could...potentially catch the notice of some unsavory individuals who may not wish for us to try and find out the truth...if you understand what I'm saying, Honoka?"

"Um, I don't think I do?" Honoka blinked.

Tsubasa sighed, shook her head. "No, it doesn't matter. It was just a joke. But there is a place I'd like to take you, I know it would help cheer you up."

"What place? What do you mean, Tsubasa?"

Tsubasa removed something else from her chest-pocket and presented it to the other girl. It was not a tissue or a handkerchief, but instead she unfolded a flier of a karaoke venue that had recently opened two weeks ago downtown. Honoka looked up at Tsubasa and their stares held on each other. The red-headed girl could have sworn that she felt her heart skip a beat or two.

"How about it?"

* * *

><p>Tsubasa and Honoka sat side by side on the lone couch in their private karaoke room. They had chosen to take a two-person room, clearly meant for couples only, but the woman behind the cash register only offered a 'knowing wink' to the girls before she handed them their pass and sent them on their way down the hall. Tsubasa must have noticed it, but she made no mention of it, not even when they were finally alone with each other. Honoka normally loved karaoke, just like she loved any chance to sing, but right now her mood was hardly good enough for her to want to pick up the mic.<p>

Tsubasa began scrolling through the list of songs on the screen in front of them, using a remote on the table to control it. "Hmm...I wonder if there will ever be a day where we'll see OUR songs on a list of karaoke music..."

"Tsubasa? Why did you pick this place?" Honoka asked. They didn't even take up the offer to order food while they were here, like sushi or hot wings.

"It was a bit of a personal choice, I admit, but I think we can talk easier here, Honoka."

Honoka looked up at a corner between where the ceiling and the wall met; there was a security camera aimed directly at them. Was this really a proper place to come to if they wanted to be 'private'? What was Tsubasa going to say that she had to go to a karaoke venue for? Why was she still looking at the songs? Honoka wished she could have enjoyed this moment far more than she was, spending personal time with the girl who had inspired her to take the path of the school idol in the first place, but her mind was full of too many questions and queries.

"So what were you going to say? I...I want to know how to turn my friends back to normal...! There has to be something we can do! To snap them out of this...this weirdness! Right, Tsubasa?"

"Honoka, I'm going to suggest something, and you might not like it, but it could very well be one of many potential truths."

"...What?"

Tsubasa looked at the other girl. "Our friends are acting as if things have always been this way, and that we are the ones acting strange to them, right? What if they're right?"

Honoka felt something like a chill crawl up the length of her spine. "T-Tsubasa...?"

"Maybe we're the ones who are crazy here. We thought everything was normal before, but maybe we're just 'waking up' and realizing that that was all a lie, this world is the reality we've been apart of all along, and we happen to both be suffering the same sort of mental condition. It's...it's a stretch, I admit, but the fact that we are the ones who are so different from everyone could have something to do with it."

Honoka touched her own head. "We're...you're saying we're actually crazy?"

"No, I'm not saying that. I'm just making a guess, but it's not a very good one, I admit. We don't know enough to make any real leeway to figuring out what's going on." Tsubasa replied, sighing and shaking her head. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything, Honoka."

"Ah..." Honoka lowered her arms.

"Maybe it was aliens! We still don't know exactly if intelligent life exists beyond our planet, but it is highly likely. We could be part of some radical experiment, or maybe we are the only two who managed to somehow avoid being altered by them. Or this was actually part of a joke all along, carried out to a most ridiculous degree, to the point that I can't even see the purpose why they would go through all the trouble."

"Tsubasa, I want things to be back to how they were. Those people in the club-room...they weren't my friends..." Honoka sniffled. "I want them back..."

"Honoka, are you really going to cry right now?" Tsubasa sounded genuinely offended.

"What?"

"There's a lot you could be doing right now, but crying is the last thing you should do."

Honoka wiped at her eyes with the back of her arm. "I know, Tsubasa, I'm sorry, I'm just...I don't want Kotori, or Umi, or Eri, or Maki or any of the others to be this way! None of them even like each other anymore! Hanayo and Rin don't want anything to do with each other, Umi keeps sexually harassing everyone, and not even Kotori is willing to stand by my side! If I don't do something soon to make them change their minds and become friends again, our entire group is going to split apart!"

Tsubasa finally pulled herself away from the console and the karaoke songs. She reached over and took Honoka's trembling hands into her own and pulled her in close. She slipped one hand past and grabbed the other girl's arm by the wrist and held it still. From the positions in that they were currently sitting, with Tsubasa leaned in and a little over the other girl, looming, Honoka could have almost sworn that she was about to be kissed by the center of A-Rise. Her mind decided that that wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world. She found herself practically mesmerized by the short, broad-foreheaded girl's unparalleled beauty, but then Tsubasa began to speak to her.

"Honoka, you need more than just karaoke to help raise your spirits again. How about we do something else?"

"Tsubasa..." Honoka started to blush despite herself.

"Would you...want to...rob a bank with me? I'm sure we can find some guns and ski masks somewhere. It shouldn't be too hard, no one would take us seriously because we're just high school girls, not until it's too late, right?"

Honoka's bush immediately faded. "Eh?"

Tsubasa let a few seconds pass. She looked around the room; she was seemingly expecting some sort of change to occur after what she had just said, like the suggestion to rob a bank as a way to relieve stress was actually a secret password. Honoka didn't say anything, in case Tsubasa had the desire to explain herself soon. The other girl released her grip on Honoka's arms and slumped, in a rather despondent way, back onto the couch.

"I almost had expected a zombie or something to pop out. If not even something as ridiculous as that won't happen, then maybe this is not a dream either." Tsubasa murmured under her breath.

"Tsubasa, do you really want to rob a bank?" Honoka knew it was silly to ask, but she just had to ask it.

Tsubasa shook her head. "It was just a test. Don't worry about it, Honoka. Do you feel any better, though?"

"I suppose." Honoka couldn't have said 'no', and she wasn't truly as driven to despair's edge as she had been a few moments ago, so maybe Tsubasa's bizarre little stunt, whatever its true purpose was for the UTX student, had managed to cheer her up some after all.

"For now, I think it sounds like there really is only one thing that we can do."

"What is that?"

"We need to take it upon ourselves to try and fix the broken relations between our friends. You need to make muse into a proper school idol group again."

Honoka groaned. She really had to go through all of that again?

"Don't worry." Tsubasa placed a hand on Honoka's shoulder. "I'll help you, Honoka. We can do this together...and I'd like to get Anju and Erena back together too. Those two, when I met them this morning, had become a couple of wannabe biker-chicks with tattoos and piercings. I couldn't stand to see them like that, so I want to know how we can get back to normal too, whether this is the real normal or not. We'll figure it out together and I swear we'll try, Honoka."

Honoka felt her heart skip a beat again, but fortunately it didn't kill her, although the consideration later that same night that she and Tsubasa had essentially gone on a date together nearly did.

"Now, why don't we relax and sing a little karaoke together? I think I finally found us a song too."


	4. Chapter 4

Thankfully, for both Honoka and Tsubasa, the next day after their karaoke date had been a Sunday, so they had ample time for plans to be prepared and strategies to be formulated. They agreed to meet again to discuss ideas on how they could potentially return their world back to its original state, if that was even possible in the first place. Instead of returning to the karaoke room or the lakeside bench spot, Tsubasa told Honoka to meet her under the bridge in the southwest side of town, between the residential area and the train station. It was safe a spot to convene as any. Honoka agreed to meet the other girl there, although when she was told it had to be very early in the morning, Honoka realized she had to set her alarm clock earlier than usual to make sure she arrived on time. Even in a world that had been turned completely upside down, Honoka still wanted to be able to sleep in on Sundays. She worked hard enough to deserve that right, she felt.

However, there was no way she could turn down a request from Tsubasa either. So early she awoke, and she hurried to meet the other girl under the bridge, taking her laptop with her just in the case of necessity. She didn't stop to eat pancakes (her mother wasn't awake yet anyway) or to see if her fluffy sister was still checking herself out in the mirror like she had been last night. When she went outside, she was hit with the left-over freeze from last night. Winter was coming, and it was getting colder as they moved through Fall. Wearing a coat and scarf, Honoka dashed for the rendezvous point.

* * *

><p>Ayase Eri walked over the bridge with a heavy step in her walk and even heavier eyelids. She started to yawn, but she stopped to reach up and gingerly touch her cheek, which was still throbbing. Luckily a bruise hadn't been left, that would have been difficult to explain to her parents or her friends. She had gotten into a minor scuffle while waiting for the midnight release last night, arguing with another girl about some minor pairing from a certain swimming anime, and it had ended after one of them was dragged off by the police and the other left with a stinging slap on their cheek. Eri didn't understand how some people could act so irresponsible when it came to their fandoms. In any case, she had spent the entire night and the morning up until now out and about, now it was time to finally go home and spend the rest of the day sleeping and building.<p>

'At least I got what I went there for,' Eri thought. She had a plastic bag slung over her shoulder. Inside of it was the latest Gundam model to be released at the store, the '_GAT-X105+AQM/E-X01 Aile Strike Gundam, O.M.N.I. Enforcer Mobile Unit'_, and she had been looking forward to it for a very long time. It was not the newest model, but it had been the first time it was released at her favorite Gunpla store, and it was at a far cheaper price than anything she could have bought online. She had even bought several more models that she hadn't owned until now just because she had been in such a good mood last night, a mood that not even being slapped by a rampant fan-girl could spoil. Eri yawned again. She wondered if anyone would be awake at home by the time she returned. She could hardly believe she'd been out so long; it wasn't right for a high school student like herself to be keeping up through the night or so the adults would say, but thankfully her many midnights of watching anime and playing video-games had helped train her to become a near-insomniac. A few hours of sleep and she would be good to go to start putting the new model together. She could hardly wait.

"Glad you could make it, Honoka. I hope you slept well."

"...Huh?"

"Honoka, you need to wake up. It's time that we begin discussing matters. Important matters. I have information about your friends that's going to be extremely helpful for you!"

"...Wait, what? Info? On my friends? How did you get it so quickly?"

"Here, take a look at this."

Eri stopped. She only just managed to catch the voices of two girls rising up from above the bridge. The blonde wandered over to the edge of the bridge and peered over, spotting the top of Honoka's head.

It must have been fate or destiny or something else entirely, as Tsubasa had picked this time of the morning and this particular day because she knew that there were be very few people crossing the bridge so early. She had no idea that one Ayase Eri would have been staying out past her bedtime in Akihabara to buy a Gundam plastic model.

"Minami Kotori, a second-year student in Otonokizaka, member of school idol group muse, 16 years of age. Seems to be suffering from a split-personality disorder, one side of the personality being that of Kotori and the other being another persona named 'Minalinsky', who has a peculiar inclination to dress herself as a french maid and is known to behave rather obsessively toward those that she deems to 'like'. This issue has been prevailing in Kotori's life since childhood, and her mother had her enrolled into Otonokizaka, of which she is the principal of, so that she may continue to keep eye on her child. Potentially dangerous to others."

Honoka looked up from the papers and gave Tsubasa a hard stare. Tsubasa offered her an apologetic nod.

"Keep reading." she said.

Honoka continued aloud. "Sonoda Umi, a second-year student in Otonokizaka, member of school idol group muse, 16 years of age. Raised in a strictly conservative and formal family setting, Umi was apparently taught by her parents to behave similarly like a proper young man in both manner and attitude, but her discovery of her own sexual identity resulted in her completely overriding all of their teaches and developing hypersexuality to the point of being problematic. The Umi of middle school and the Umi of high school are nearly capable of being considered two different people. Potentially dangerous, higher level of risk to one's safety than Kotori/Minalinsky. Look into further for any potential acts of sexual harassment against students and faculty alike. Unknown if she has actually had sexual intercourse or not in spite of her actions."

Honoka didn't want to read any more. She looked up again and tried to hand them back. "This...this is too weird..."

"It's useful information. You should hold onto it."

"Where...where did you even get this? Is this for real?" Honoka asked.

"Got it right out of UTX's databanks, through my computer."

"...Why does YOUR school have information on MY school's students? And these sort of details? Does it have information on me too? And why are they considered 'dangerous'?"

Tsubasa frowned. "...I'm not entirely sure why...but it's helpful, isn't it? At least we have it in the first place."

Honoka didn't really think that helped answer anything at all.

"Why don't you read it over? I'd already looked at it all last night, but I want us to exchange ideas on how to fix things."

Honoka sighed. She didn't like reading this sort of private information about her friends, but if she was going to have to put her brains together with Tsubasa's (as nice as that would sound otherwise), she needed to know as much as she could. She hoped that her sub-par studying skills wouldn't end up failing her like usual as she flipped through the pages. Eri was an avid anime fanatic, Nozomi had issues with her sexuality throughout her childhood, Nico had been exceptionally tall and experienced more growth spurts than an average woman in a very short span of time. Honoka had known most of this from her very first meeting with them all, but the only things that seemed new to her was Hanayo and Rin having been friends as children and that Maki grew up in a poor household in this universe as compared to an abundantly wealthy one. Apparently some point during their childhoods, Hanayo had turned to delinquency, but Rin gradually became more and more feminine, distancing herself from the girl she'd known since kindergarten. Honoka frowned; knowing how close those two had been in her original world, this new past of theirs was actually quite sad.

"I don't know what to do with any of this..." Honoka said.

"Hmm, I can understand that you're overwhelmed, Honoka, but we need to put our heads together and think to figure out what to do next here."

Honoka sighed, the papers about ready to drop out of her hands. "This is...agh, it's so crazy...how can we turn all of THIS around...I mean, we can't fix Maki's financial situation! My family still hardly has any money at all!"

"We need to at least try to be supportive. Maybe suggest to her parents to try and go back to school for their doctorate degrees. We could secretly slip fliers to medical schools into their postbox."

"Whoa." Honoka was impressed by Tsubasa's plans, but whether or not they would succeed was another matter completely, and it was not a matter that she was about to debate on, for the sake of her poor, addled brain. None of these seemed like any sort of actual ideas a normal teenage girl would ever suggest, but then again, Tsubasa was Tsubasa, both a top student in the famed UTX Academy as well as an experienced school idol. She was in a league all of her own. The 'Super Cool, Super Awesome, Super Sexy' league, to be exact.

"Hey! Honoka! Good morning!"

"Oh...well...it looks like we've been found out. Very unexpected." Tsubasa smiled wryly.

Honoka gasped. Eri was making her way down the incline leading under the bridge, waving over at them with her Gunpla bag strapped over her shoulder.

"Good morning." Eri said again as she approached the two girls.

"Eri...what are...what are you doing here?" Honoka asked. Was Tsubasa right about them potentially being watched while they tried to solve the mysteries of this world? Was Eri actually a spy coming to apprehend them? Honoka braced herself.

"I had thought that I overheard you two, but I couldn't be for sure until I saw you in person. What are you two doing here, this early in the morning and under a bridge? This wouldn't happen to be the sort of 'secret rendezvous' that you'd only expect to see in a cliche romance anime these days, is it?" Eri teased with a wink and a coy smile.

"Ah...uh...whuh..." Honoka's face flushed red and her lower jaw hung agape, whereas Tsubasa simply looked curious at what the older blonde could possibly be referring to; she hadn't seen this sort of scenario used in any cliche romance anime for a long time now.

"I'm just kidding! I...I actually was up all last night buying this. I only happened to pass by on chance." Eri said, holding up the bag she was carrying. "Honoka, it's been a while since it's just been the two of us, and I wasn't going to be doing much else today, so since we've met up so suddenly, would you like to come back to my place for tea? Oh, Tsubasa, you can come too, of course!"

"Tea? At your place?" Honoka had never been to Eri's house even in the original world, but if Eri was an otaku now, she could only imagine what her bedroom must have looked like.

"You're not tired at all?" Tsubasa asked.

"I've developed some mastery over the ancient art of insomnia! Ha ha...I'm pretty good at staying up late at night, really..."

"Impressive. I wouldn't mind possessing such a skill myself." Tsubasa remarked. She slapped a hand down on Honoka's shoulder. "If you really don't mind at this time of the day, we'd be very grateful to have tea with you this morning, Ayase Eri."

"Ah! Horosho! That's good to hear...!"

Honoka turned to the other girl. "Tsubasa?"

Tsubasa whispered into her ear, "Honoka, let's just go. We can't keep talking here if Eri knows about us. Besides, you should get to know her a little better in this new world, and what better way than by going inside her very own bedroom?"

Honoka nodded. Tsubasa had a point. "Okay, Eri! Let's go~!"

* * *

><p>The Ayase household was perfectly contemporary, and it seemed like a perfectly normal place up until the three girls arrived outside of Eri's bedroom.<p>

There were at least four rooms on the second floor of Eri's house. Her parents' bedroom, her sister Arisa's bedroom, the shared family bathroom, and Eri's own bedroom. The door-sized Gundam movie poster plastered over one of these aforementioned doors made it admittedly easy for Honoka to pinpoint which room belonged to her friend. Tsubasa smirked. Eri twisted the knob and pushed the door open, ushering them inside.

"I apologize for the mess, I had not been intending guests, but please, make yourselves at home."

"Thank you very much. Please pardon the intrusion." Tsubasa bowed her head.

Honoka gaped. Eri's room would have made most nerds blush out of envy. She had several shelves stocked full with various Gunpla models, fully-articulated figurines of popular anime characters, and tiny chibi figures. There were posters of beautiful teenagers battling flesh-hungry giants, posters of beautiful teenagers wearing scantily-clad sailor uniforms as they duked it out with giant scissors, posters of beautiful teenagers playing card games or firing ki blasts, posters of beautiful teenagers playing tennis and throwing footballs, posters of beautiful teenagers doing just about everything a normally beautiful teenager would never be expected to do in real life. Stacks upon stacks of manga, art-books, gaming guides, programming books, Gunpla pricing and construction guides and the occasional middle school textbook mixed in, they were all shoved into tightly-packed bookcases. DVDs and Blue-rays were relegated to a special shelf all their own. A Pikachu plush sat on its tummy atop her bed. A Nintendo 3DS, a PS Vita and a PSP sat circled around her high-end laptop. On the highest shelf, too high for even anyone to reach without a step-stool, stood a lone figurine of a rather busty, curly-haired ninja, as if it were a coveted jewel, so precious that not even its owner was allowed to touch it. There was still everything else you would expect in a high school girl's room, from a closet full of cute outfits to make-up sets lying haphazardly on her computer desk, but everything else was exceptionally 'anime' about the place.

"Whoa..."

"Yes, I had been meaning to reorganize and make this room look much nicer, but with idol practice and everything else, I haven't been able to find the time." Eri sheepishly admitted. She reached underneath her bed and produced a pair of pillows for the girls to sit on.

"Ah! Sis! You're back!" Arisa suddenly poked her head into the room, breaking out into big smiles when she discovered her older sibling had returned.

"Oh, Arisa! Good morning!"

"Horosho!"

"Arisa, do you mind helping me get some tea and snacks for our visitors? It's Honoka and her friend Tsubasa from UTX."

"Oh!" Arisa looked especially surprised to see Tsubasa over Honoka. "Y-Yes, of course! Of course! Let's prepare a big breakfast feast!"

"I'd rather just have tea, actually." Tsubasa said.

"Ah...okay..."

Eri ushered her sister out of the room, and the two Ayase siblings hurried downstairs to begin putting things together. Honoka and Tsubasa took this time to soak in the atmosphere, and what an atmosphere it was. Honoka felt like she was being watched by a dozen eyes, with all of these figurines and posters of people staring directly back at her, never blinking, never moving. Shivering a little, the orange-haired girl turned her gaze over onto Eri's work desk. She had a board hanging on the wall over it, adorned with various photographs, pins and memorabilia from her time as a member of her school idol group. Honoka sniffled; she was touched. Not only that, she was also relieved. Inspecting the photos closer, she saw that the majority of her memories were not entirely fabrications, like Tsubasa had suggested. Even though Nico was a giant and some of the other girls looked differently, not much else had changed; there were photos of them playing on the beach, practicing their dance routines on the school roof, performing to a crowd of students in the auditorium. They had done all of those things...except for winning the Love Live. How much was exactly like Honoka remembered it, and how much of it was different?

"So we really were all as close as we had been in the original world." she said.

"Isn't that interesting, considering from what you've said, they did nothing but fight...maybe losing the Love Live started the rift..." Tsubasa muttered.

When Eri and Arisa returned, they brought in trays of tea and cream-puffs, but they seemed to be deep in discussion over something important.

"I just started on a new fanfic, sis! It's a crossover between Gundam series! Gundam Wing and Gundam SEED Destiny to be exact! Let me tell you about it!"

"Wait a minute, Arisa," Eri stopped her. "Don't you remember what year Gundam Wing came out?"

"Um, 1995?"

"What about Gundam SEED Destiny?"

"It came out back in 2004!"

"That's a long gap of time you're playing with there, almost ten years between the two series when they were broadcast! You need to keep in mind that things were very different in the Gundam verse within those two series, especially with the context of the years they were created taken into consideration! Not to mention, didn't you say you've only gotten to see a few episodes of Gundam SEED Destiny so far? Don't go trying to write about something that you hardly know anything about yet!"

Arisa frowned, but she didn't try to defend her case, especially when she knew that her sister was right in the first place. Eri placed the tray in front of the other girls and apologized on her sister's behalf for her foolishness before taking a seat with them.

"I hope you enjoy them."

Tsubasa ate one of the cream-puffs. "Mm...cream-puffs in the morning...not something I had ever considered before, but I can't say that I don't like it."

"Horosho! Although, I admit, we didn't really have much on hand to be considered snacks to share with guests." Eri said.

Tsubasa shook her head. "You have nothing to apologize for. Honoka, what do you think of them?"

Honoka was already shoveling cream-puffs into her maw by the handful.

"She likes them too." Tsubasa relayed to the blonde.

Eri chuckled. She looked around her cramped, overburdened room full of physical representations of her favorite shows and games, every single fandom that she followed and adored every single day, and she flashed a sheepish smile. "I do hope...that this isn't too much...for someone from UTX like yourself, Tsubasa..."

"Sis says that as long as she doesn't own a body pillow, she's still 'normal'!" Arisa proclaimed.

"A-A-Arisa...! Be quiet!" Eri shrieked, her face flushing bright red from every corner. She grabbed a cream-puff and shoved it into her little sister's mouth.

"I think it's pretty cool! And look, you still have all those photos of us that we took together!" Honoka spoke up and she pointed over at the collage hanging above Eri's desk. She was so happy she could cry; there was still a chance, a real chance, that they could all be friends again. Memories like the ones they'd made as a school idol group couldn't be forgotten easily, much less tossed aside.

"Heh...those photos...they were a lot of fun, those times..."

"I still remember it all like it was yesterday! Eri, you still think we have a shot at being the top-ranked school idols, don't you?" Honoka had to ask this question. There was no way she couldn't. This was as important as fixing the world was to her.

Eri nodded, and now she was blushing for a whole different reason. "Horosho, yes, it's a good thing that you mentioned those photos, because...well, I'd been meaning to talk to you after our last meeting. Heh, I'm going to need to be really serious, because I'd thought this over so many times, I already know what to say by heart, so sorry if it seems silly, Honoka. I know that we lost the Love Live, but like you said, we still have another chance at it in the winter. A number of our friends are starting to drift away, but I believe that you'll know how to bring them back. I mean, think about it, you got me, someone who was willing to sink all of the rest of her time into the world of 2-D, to actually put on a frilly dress and dance with a bunch of girls I've known for less than a year in front of an audience of strangers. I've come to love it. I want us to get to the Love Live more than anything right now, even more than I want to see my dream pairing become canon. I'm willing to support you and the rest of muse, so please...do what you can. Help Nozomi and the others understand that so they don't have to give up. I know it's a lot to ask, and it may even be inappropriate because of our status, but this is my one and only request to you as an upperclassman to her underclassmen."

"I don't know if I can," Honoka had to be honest. She couldn't lie to someone when they were being so straight-forward to her, especially not if it was one of her best friends.

"I know you can, Honoka. You're one of the coolest real people I know, and you're a year younger than me! I dunno what that says about me, but it does say a lot about you."

Honoka blushed. Tsubasa tried not to let her internal frustration scuttle its way onto her face, a scowl just waiting to make itself known. Arisa made an 'o' with her lips as if she'd just sucked on a lemon and a lime at the exact same time.

"Sis, are you...are you...?!" Arisa let out a squeal.

"This isn't a love confession, Arisa! Now..."

Eri did not manage to finish her words, as she suddenly, and abruptly, collapsed onto the table. Honoka cried out. Tsubasa jumped to her feet with intent to help the girl on a moment's notice. Oddly enough, Arisa, the one who should have been the most afraid for her sister's condition, did not seem alarmed at all. She simply rubbed Eri's back a few times. No one said a word, Honoka's and Tsubasa's breaths clinging to their throats. Soon, the silence was punctured by the sound of Eri's gentle snoring.

"She finally conked out. I wonder when that would happen. She has abnormal sleeping patterns, because she stays up late a lot." Arisa explained to the clearly confused Honoka and Tsubasa.

"Eri..." Honoka could not think much to say, her thoughts preoccupied with everything else that Eri had just told her, from her wish to see muse make it to the Love Live to her 'confession' on how cool she thought Honoka really was. She'd never been this touched before. The Eri she knew in the original world had been a wonderfully sweet young woman who had grown to be one of her closest allies, but she probably never thought of her the same sort of way that this Eri did. This Eri admired her despite their difference in age.

Tsubasa sighed.

"I suppose we should leave then. Not polite of us to hang around in another family's home when our host is fast asleep."

* * *

><p>Honoka and Tsubasa said farewell to Arisa, thanking her for the cream-puffs, and stepped back out into the chilly morning air. Honoka shivered.<p>

"Ah, I had forgotten how cold it was after being inside so long! Why can't the whole world have a built-in heater? And then maybe switch it out for an air conditioner in the summer!"

Tsubasa reached out and readjusted the scarf that Honoka had been wearing. "You just need to wear this a little tighter."

"Th-thanks." Honoka's cheeks flushed. She hadn't been outside long enough for the cold to do that yet.

The two girls walked without conversation for a time.

"Eri is interesting in this world." Tsubasa said in the least-enthused tone of voice she could have used.

Honoka nodded, and she replied, staring straight ahead, "I decided something."

"What's that?"

"I'm not going to try and change things back to the way they were. At least not know."

"What I'm going to do is try to help everyone as they are, right now, and get us to the Love Live all over again."

"Honoka..."

"I know they're not the way I'm used to seeing them, but they still are 'themselves', in some way, right? Eri seemed happy the way she was right now. Even if she likes anime or plays games instead of running student council, she's still my friend. I'm sure the others are the same. I can't take that away from them, so...I'm going to try to work with them as they are! Maybe the reason we're here is to pass some sort of test, and this is that 'test'! It could be possible, right, Tsubasa?"

Tsubasa smiled, although that smile did not reach her eyes. "So that's your decision, Honoka? Alright, we'll try and make it happen, then. Maybe helping you helping them is what I'm supposed to do too."

Honoka nodded. She thought of something else right away.

"You know, Arisa and Eri didn't seem to think much of you as a member of A-Rise. I mean, you guys did win the Love Live in this world, didn't you?"

Tsubasa shook her head. "We lost too."

"What." the center of muse gaped.

"Actually, to be accurate, according to the records I read online, we didn't even manage to be qualified."

"That's...that's impossible..."

"The ones you're going to have to deal with...are the Mutant Girls."

Honoka blinked. For a moment, all of the gears in her brain shuddered to a stop.

"The who?"


	5. Chapter 5

After Honoka and Tsubasa had left Eri's home and the elder Ayase sibling to her rest, the two girls decided that they needed to convene somewhere else to continue their discussions, especially now that they had agreed to take their work in another new direction; they would not be trying to return their world to 'normal', at least not yet, but instead try to help the world as it is right now, as not only would it be the 'right thing' to do, but it may possible be part of the mystery on why they are even here to begin with. Tsubasa took Honoka's hand and led her along, the other girl wondering how warm her hand would feel if they hadn't been wearing gloves, in spite of this chilly morning.

"Where...where are we going, Tsubasa?" Honoka asked.

"The library. We can look up more information there if we have to, and that computer of yours," Tsubasa said, nodding over at Honoka's bookbag strapped over the orange-haired girl's right shoulder, "I can use that to show you exactly what I mean about Mutant Girls."

Honoka blinked. "...You want to go to the library?"

"Yes, the town library. I have my doubts that you would know where it is."

"I-I know where it is!" Honoka cried in her defense. She did know where the library was, but she had only ever gone there once during middle school. Umi, the original Umi, had dragged her there so that they could study for a test together, but Honoka had ended up getting herself expelled from the library in a matter of hours. Umi had never tried to take her to a library ever again. Honoka was thankful she at least managed to pass the test when Kotori offered to step in. This would be her first time going back to the library in years. She hoped that she would be allowed to enter, although if she was getting the hang of this world like she thought, then she probably would be fine.

Tsubasa squeezed Honoka's hand a little harder. Honoka certainly didn't miss notice of that.

"Honoka...are you...are you really going to leave this world as it is?" she asked.

"N-No, Tsubasa! I mean, I want my friends and our world back to normal, you remember what I said last night, but I think these versions of them right now could use our help too...a lot of our help!"

"Of course. Yeah, of course. I had already told myself that...not sure why I'm bothering asking it again..." Tsubasa muttered under her breath. She brought her other hand to her temple, as if she'd experienced a sudden migraine. Honoka, unsurprisingly, was a little concerned.

"Tsubasa?"

Suddenly, the other woman flashed her a reassuring grin. "I'm fine, Honoka. Don't worry. I was just thinking a bit more about our situation."

"...Oh..." Honoka didn't believe her, or at least she had a good feeling there was more behind Tsubasa's thoughts than she allowed to let on, but she didn't press her, knowing that Tsubasa would have a reason for not mentioning it right now, and most likely, she would eventually tell her everything in the time coming. Honoka hoped that was the case, anyway.

When they arrived at the library, Honoka was surprised. She hardly recognized the building as it used to be, but then again, the last time she'd seen it she was wearing Yukiho's school uniform.

"Is it open on Sunday?"

"Of course. Later hours, but there's no way a library would ever deprive people of knowledge if it could help it."

"So it's even going to be open on Christmas and New Years?"

"Well...barring holidays, of course..."

"Ah."

"L-Let's go inside."

Tsubasa opened the doors and allowed Honoka inside before her, who was glad that the shadows of the foyer buried both her face and her intense blush. Tsubasa slipped back in front of the Otonokizaka girl and continued to lead her along. Even though the library was opened today, the door had been unlocked after all, it seemed almost as if the building itself was completely deserted. There was no employee to greet them at the counter, no other students or civilians wandering among the aisles, no one working at the computers on display. For a moment, she even wondered if there was something wrong with her ears, for she could hear nothing, and even her and Tsubasa's footsteps were muffled by the thick rug beneath them. Surely there were people somewhere and working inside this massive library, but from where Honoka stood, it was like she had stepped into an even stranger world, one where only she and Tsubasa existed.

"Let's get out your computer." Tsubasa said, smacking her palm down upon one of the studying desks.

"Alright!" Honoka nodded. She placed her schoolbag onto the table and unzipped it, carefully removing her laptop. As Tsubasa worked to undo her scarf and remove her coat, Honoka opened the laptop and turned it on. After the starting logo flashed and the desktop loaded, Honoka, now able to move her fingers easier without gloves, clicked on the internet browser and pulled up the homepage, which was, of course, the Love Live competition's official website.

Tsubasa smiled wryly. She gently ushered Honoka aside and took over the keyboard, punching in various letters into the search bar before clicking 'ENTER'.

"Nice computer, Honoka."

"I-Is it? I had spent most of last year's Christmas money on it, and my parents chipped in a bit too."

"Hmm."

The rankings appeared onto the screen not two seconds later. Tsubasa scrolled through them for a moment before she stopped at the top 4 who were qualified enough to have passed the preliminaries of the earlier Love Live. Honoka watched with such intensity that she felt her eyeballs could have popped right from their sockets. Of course, muse was missing from the list, as well A-Rise, just like Tsubasa had said. It disheartened Honoka to see that this was all true. She'd admired Tsubasa and A-Rise so much that she still wanted to see them succeed, even if they were, ultimately, the opposition.

Instead, there were four ranked teams coming in fourth place to first: I'm Biscuits, StrawBerry Panic, Midnight Cats, and Mutant Girls. The Mutant Girls had performed for the Love Live in spring, and now that the winter Love Live was searching for groups to compete, they were entering the race once again. In fact, all four school idol groups from the first Love Live were now gunning for the second.

"Who are they?" Honoka asked, speaking of the Mutant Girls in particular, although she had never heard of any of the named groups she saw on screen before.

"The ones that we lost to." Tsubasa replied, shaking her head. "From what I've read on forums, they're already being considered the victors of the winter Love Live competition as well. Some people are even saying they should forego the entire thing altogether and simply let them perform again, to 'save the others their heartbreak'. It's really kind of frustrating, Honoka."

"I'm so sorry, Tsubasa."

"It's alright. Apparently, your team at least managed to compete, from what I heard. My friends and I...we never got the chance to so much as try."

"Tsubasa..." Honoka sniffled.

"Let's not worry about that right now. Mutant Girls, as silly as their name sounds, are a formidable four-girl group. Apparently they base themselves off of some popular children's franchise from North America, about humanoid reptiles who fight using ninja techniques and weaponry. It's...not something I would have ever imagined America would create, but they were inspired by it, and they have the skills to make themselves popular on stage in spite of the silly influences behind the name and get-up."

"Wow."

"Yes, but we might need to look out for the Midnight Cats as well. They're a strong contender. Even for just a duo, they're well-known among school idol followers, especially because they have been so open about how 'close' they are. It gets their male fans riled up, for a whole different reason. They even once kissed on-stage, in front of a crowd, after performing all night. A thousand cases of deadly nosebleeds were reported and an entire blood bank was run dry."

"Oh..." Honoka blushed. She had no idea that so many school idols were homosexual when she first started this whole idea, honestly.

"If you're going to defeat both of them in the winter competition, you'll need to be the very best you can possibly be, maybe even better than when you went up against us in the original world. With a group like yours, Honoka, do you really think you can do it?"

Honoka thought it over. Umi the pervert, Kotori the split-personality, Eri the otaku, Nozomi the closeted, Rin the feminine, Hanayo the punk, Nico the bombshell, Maki the goof. She could not have had a more unlikely school idol group as her circle of friends. They were nothing like the girls that she knew back in the original world, and it had taken them an abundant amount of sweat, tears and sheer willpower to reach the point of becoming the top-ranked idols. Now Honoka had to do it all over again with a group that was far below that level. Yet, all the same, they were people who wanted to believe in her, just like her original friends believed in her.

"I...I want us to try, at the very least."

Tsubasa stared into Honoka's eyes, ignoring the taint of red that was creeping up on the other girl's cheeks at the same time. She could see the determination in her eyes. Tsubasa's wry smile returned.

"You really are going to stick with your decision, huh? I think you do deserve to be the center of muse after all, Honoka, with guts like yours."

"Ah! Th-thank you very much! Thank you, Tsubasa!"

"You helped me before too with that confident attitude of yours, so I should be thanking you...maybe." Tsubasa shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"Never mind. I think we should keep discussing our game-plan. We've been distracted by karaoke and Eri, but no longer can we waste any more time. I admit it's partially my fault as well, but I'm going to stay focused now, and I want you to do the same, Honoka. Tel me, what exactly are you going to do to get everyone to band together like before? You told me that many of them are thinking about quitting, even. If you're going to win the Love Live, you need to focus on pulling back the teammates who are drifting away first."

"Yeah, the ones who are unhappy, there was Rin, Hanayo...maybe Nozomi, after I scared her...and Kotori."

"Just them?"

Honoka nodded as she continued to recall yesterday's events. "Well, Eri seems like she wants to win the Love Live too. Umi said she'd support me, and Maki. Oh, and Nico too! You wouldn't believe it if you saw her! She's nothing like the little imp you called her before!"

"Ah...that...I only called her that because I couldn't think up of anything more appealing to say at the time..."

"Huh?"

* * *

><p>Yazawa Nico's luscious lips twisted into an ugly scowl, one that marred her natural beauty as badly as any scar or bruise, and that scowl only continued to become more pronounced the longer she read the string of comments running down on her computer screen.<p>

She had been up early in the morning, re-watching the videos that had streamed their attempted performances for the spring Love Live. Every time she did, she couldn't help but cringe and scowl, yet like a train wreck, she couldn't take her eyes away, and she replayed it again and again. It was like she was slowly driving herself further and further into despair on purpose, but she didn't know why. When she decided to read what the viewers were saying about them, her heart sank to the deepest depths within her prodigious bosom.

There were comments on how terrible and uncoordinated their dancing was. There were comments about how off-key some of them sounded, like they couldn't pick the right way for them all to sing at the same time. There were comments on how Hanayo's ass was clearly visible now and then because she moved too awkwardly, like she was unused to dancing at all. Those asinine little mentions weren't what bothered Nico the most, though.

It was the discussions about her body that made her skin crawl and her stomach ache. They talked about how tall she was compared to the rest of them, how she looked like she belonged in college instead of high school, how huge her breasts and ass were in that skirt and dress. They talked especially about her breast-size. Nico sighed. She had dealt with this sort of discrimination all her life, but seeing how people talk about it behind her back and actually getting to know what they're saying and thinking was incredibly disturbing. She didn't even want to keep count of how many said they'd like to 'stick it in her' or some variation of.

Nico sighed. She wanted to be an idol, as ludicrous it might have sounded for someone of her height and size. It had been something of a childish dream, she knew that, but she'd been having fun, whether she'd admit it or not, when she was practicing and dancing with everyone. She could even manage to ignore the back-cramps that she developed afterward.

However, she didn't know if she could do this. She said she'd help Honoka and stay with muse, but they had such little time to get prepared for the winter competition, and they'd looked like such fools last time. Even worse, and this was the icing on the cake, if she couldn't make Maki love her because she had this body, then there was little point in hanging around her, even when the idol club was the one little strand that kept them interacting. If she snipped that string, they would simply drift off back to their own corners of life, far away and living their separate lives again.

Not that Maki would have likely noticed. She had no idea that she was adored to such a degree by her upperclassman, but Nico already knew the potential they had as a couple was next to nil.

'Maybe I should give up on the idol club after all. It'd be better to focus on my studies for graduation, right?'

Nico sighed. Some days she wished she'd been born small and cute, instead of tall and buxom. Or, at the very least, she wouldn't have minded a smaller chest.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: This story will have smaller updates from now on, unless anything changes, to try and get them out faster.

* * *

><p>The next day, Honoka ran into Nico, Maki and Nozomi as the students poured in through the school gates.<p>

"Nico! Maki! Nozomi! Good morning!"

The former two turned and welcomed Honoka with varying degrees of enthusiasim. Nozomi let out a squeaking 'good morning' and hurried her way into the crowd to put as much space between her and Honoka as possible, eventually fading away into the mesh of female students. It was rather clear that she had been undeniably traumatized by Honoka's 'offering' two days ago. Honoka's pigtail drooped; she hoped that she could somehow win Nozomi back over again, but she had little confidence she could do so without getting Eri's help. She'd need to talk to her about that sooner than later.

"Good morning, Honoka! Morning, morning, morning!" Maki gleefully sang, bouncing up and down on the heels of her feet. Honoka was amazed. This girl was a whole different sort of beast compared to the Maki she'd originally known. If only that Maki could see herself behaving like this right now. It would have been gut-busting hilarious. The poor redhead freshman might be traumatized, though, so Honoka immediately decided against it as quickly as she'd thought of it in the first place.

"Good morning, Honoka." Nico said, acting far more subdued, even as her P-cup breasts were bouncing wildly inside her thinly-stretched school sweater.

"How are you today, Nico?" Honoka did not know if this Nico's personality was as vastly different as her bra size was when compared to the one that Honoka was accustomed to; maybe she was much friendlier and less spastic than the original Nico. She had only gotten to speak to her a little back on Saturday during the club meeting.

"I'm doing well..." Nico replied, nodding her head. "M-Maki and I were walking here together this morning, as we always do. Right, Maki?"

Maki nodded. "We always do!"

"You two definitely seem to be closer friends than..." Honoka started to say, only to catch herself. She immediately began panicking.

"Closer friends than...what?" Nico raised a wire-thin eyebrow, curious as to what the center was going with it.

"We're closer than most people, I like to think!" Maki boasted.

"C-Closer friends...closer friends than Umi and Kotori, I mean! Those two don't seem to get along too well." Honoka stammered.

"Eh? You think so?" Nico asked.

"Huh...?"

"I thought those two seemed pretty close." Maki frowned. "But I guess I was wrong...?"

"Are they? Hmm..." Honoka had not seen Umi or Kotori again today. They may have been avoiding her for some reason, but she didn't know why. Umi could have been watching her sleep again, but that was not something she would have been aware of anyway. Umi and Kotori...she was going to have to confront them sooner or later. They were supposed to be her very best friends.

"Anyway, Honoka, it's a good thing that you're here," Nico spoke up, snapping Honoka out of her musing.

"W-What is it?"

Nico bit her lower lip. She looked back at Maki, who curiously stared up at her with those big, innocent violet eyes of hers. She turned to Honoka again.

"I'm not sure...if the idol club...is really something I can do."

Honoka gaped. "What do you mean?"

Maki grabbed Nico's arm and shook her head. "Nico...? I thought we were going to do this together?"

Nico tensed up. She brushed Maki's hands off of her arm. She couldn't stand to be touched by her right now, especially when she was trying to do her hardest to end her association with the idol club, along with her friendship with the redhead, without any regrets. However, she'd already known that she would still be stuck with regrets, no matter what Maki did or didn't do. The tears were already starting to well, but she refused to let them drop. She'd look even more like a loser if she sobbed right in front of them.

"Wait, hold on, Nico...please...we can still make it to the Love Live..." Honoka begged.

"I don't know if I can do this, not if everyone else is going to be against the idea..." Nico shook her head, pigtails flailing.

"Nico, you don't have to quit! We just need to work to rally everyone else together!"

"Stop...please...just stop..."

"Nico!"

"I don't want to have to deal anymore with either of you!" Nico finally snapped out. She screamed so loud that it even made her breasts bounce. Everyone's heads immediately swiveled in her direction, compounding upon the humiliation she was already suffering at the hands of the two girls clinging to her.

"Nico...!" Maki cried.

Nico (gently) pushed the redheaded first-year away and began running for the school doors, disappearing into the building before Honoka or Maki even had the chance to regather themselves and hurry after her. They exchanged horrified expressions, paralyzed on the spot, unsure of what had really just transpired with their oldest friend. Maki was, needless to say, rather heartbroken that Nico had literally pushed her away from trying to help her.

"H...Honoka..." Maki's eyes started to fill with tears.

"I-It'll be okay, Maki! Calm down! P-Please don't cry!" Honoka cried, but she herself couldn't help but feel some ominous foreboding, a development she could not have ever expected to occur. "But...but still...the last time I talked to her, Nico was still ready to help out. What happened to her?"

She wished that she could take out her phone and call Tsubasa for advice right now, but with the school day about to start, she knew that she could not do that. If she was going to figure this out, she was going to have to do it on her own.

Honoka looked over at Maki, who was still sniffling.

Or maybe she could get her underclassman to help her out instead.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I probably messed up by saying I'd make the chapters shorter to post them quicker and then not update at all for the rest of December, but I've been caught up in many more important things and stories to work on, and a bit of a lack of inspiration, but I'm going to try and finish this story for you all, at least get as much done as I can and maybe reach some sort of ending.

* * *

><p>Nico hated sitting on toilets at school. Not once had her skirt ever kept from riding up and prevent her stupidly big butt from touching the cold, filthy seat. The smell was no better; just because it was a woman's latrine didn't mean that it didn't share much of the same unpleasantness as any men's bathroom would have. However, for right now, this disgusting little place was her sanctuary as she hid herself away from Maki and Honoka. She couldn't bring herself to face them right away after having run off while they were begging for her help. She'd even said some pretty hurtful things, which she deeply regretted; if only she had managed to think up of a better way to express her feelings, but hindsight was a bitch after all.<p>

Nico checked the time on her phone; she was going to wait in here for fifteen to twenty minutes before leaving. By then, most of the student body should already be in class. She could slip into the classroom and take her seat later, even at the sacrifice of getting checked in late.

She knew that she would be unable to avoid Maki and Honoka forever, that much was clearly obvious; not only were they all students at the same school, but Maki was one of her best friends and Honoka was the leader of the school idol club she was still officially apart of. She just couldn't explain herself to them RIGHT NOW, as it were. Nico sighed. She needed to figure out what she wanted to do. If she couldn't properly explain herself to the other girls, or if she couldn't made a damn decision on whether or not she'd stay in their group, then she was essentially stuck in place. Nico needed to pick one of only two choices, but both had their positives and their negatives of varying degrees.

Nico decided to step out of the bathroom a few minutes earlier, growing impatient and ultimately tired of the repulsive atmosphere. She needed to breath in some fresh air and clear her head before class started. She didn't think there was a chance she'd run into anyone from the idol club with the brief amount of time left.

"Ah! Yazawa! Would you believe it, I was just thinking about you right now!"

Nico froze up in place, barely having stepped out of the bathroom when she was suddenly called out. Her heart nearly jumped out of her generously-sized chest, and she turned her head in the direction of the voice. Kikkawa Mizuki, a fellow third-year and member of the school's basketball team, approached her.

"H-Hello, Kikkawa..." Nico had only spoken to Mizuki a handful of times before, but it had never been of her own volition. The girl was, by her own words, 'interested' in Nico's height, particularly to how useful it would be in a basketball game, where one's closeness to the net was essential to scoring.

"Nico, how have you been doing? Still towering over us munchkins as ever, I see!" Mizuki chuckled.

Nico smiled weakly. "I'm doing fine..."

"Glad to hear it! Awesome! I saw you and the others performing last time! It was really, ah, great to see you up there! You were having a lot of fun, right? Nico-Nico-Nii and all that!" Mizuki broke into a full-on bellow of laughter.

"Y-Yeah, Nico-Nico-Nii!" Nico couldn't help but perform the similar gestures and flash her bright, fake smile whenever she said that phrase; it was almost like part of her identity, even if she had recently begun questioning whether to hang onto that identity anymore at all. Even though they had ultimately made fools of themselves and lost the first Love Live competition in a spectacular way, she couldn't deny that she had had fun dancing on the stage. It was reading fans' comments afterward that had ultimately spoiled everything for her. Nico wondered if Mizuki had typed any of those comments on the internet boards, if she had really been watching.

"You're heading to class now, right?" Mizuki asked, changing the subject for now.

"Yes, I am."

"I have to go to the gym to help out with putting some of the balls away. Apparently some of our players who were practicing last night 'forgot' to clean up after themselves. Ah, I feel like a mom watching over their troublesome kids than an actual team manager these days; I love every one of those girls, don't get me wrong, but they can be such brats sometimes!"

Nico nodded.

Mizuki grinned. She looked around. The crowds in the hallways had begun to thin out, hardly many people left except a few stragglers. Mizuki coughed into her fist, looked around one more time, and found it exceptionally hard to look Nico straight in the eye as she asked, "So, um...are you guys...well, the idol club I mean...are you all still together after the Love Live?"

Nico didn't know why she hadn't expected this. She may have just been hoping for too much. "I'm supposed to meet with them for a club meeting in a few days, I think."

"I see..."

"Mizuki what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Nico had no desire to keep beating around the bush. She knew what Mizuki was getting at, it was the same thing every time they'd spoken to each other before.

Mizuki was quick to take Nico's permission for her to be honest. "Nico, you know, I really do think your skills, I'm not just talking about your height but the way you can move so gracefully on the stage too, I think it would be more appropriate for a basketball court than a school idol group."

"I've never played basketball before." Nico shook her head. She honestly never had so much as thrown a ball in her entire life.

"You need practice, but everyone does if they want to play! I could teach you! You're the tallest girl in school, you need to make use of that gift! You'd help us get all the way to the finals, I know!" Mizuki exclaimed. Her eyes drifted a little further down, onto Nico's bosom. "And...and I'm sure we can find a bra that will fit you...so they won't get in the way...while you're playing..." Mizuki stopped and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, realizing that she had started to pant heavily when images of Nico's bouncing, heaving breasts entered her mind. It was a common occurrence when dealing with the oldest Yazawa child.

"I'm still apart of the idol club, and I'm not moving away from that anytime soon." Nico wasn't going to be honest and even mention she was considering leaving; she had no interest in joining the basketball club either way, in spite of everything Mizuki claimed. Nico didn't want to use either her height or her dancing talents in such a way. Sports had never interested her, not even once.

"Hmm, I see..." Mizuki swallowed. "I understand. I just wanted to ask you about it again, since the Love Live competition is over, so I didn't think your idol club would be doing very much lately..."

"There's still the winter Love Live competition. We're going to try again there."

Mizuki smiled. "I see! That's cool! I didn't know there was a winter competition! W-Well, regardless, I do wish you the best with that! Don't worry about my offer or anything, there's always more time to think about it in the future."

"I know." Nico had already decided she wouldn't need to think about it at all.

"Uh, okay, then..." Mizuki clearly hadn't prepared for what would happen if she'd found out that there was another school idol competition coming up in the looked incredibly uncomfortable, her focus caught somewhere between Nico's face and her breasts; it was like she was staring straight into the taller woman's jugular vein. "If there's nothing else to talk about, then I guess I should head to the gym to start cleaning up. Good seeing you again, Yazawa."

"Yeah." Nico nodded.

Mizuki excused herself and hurried away, her head hanging. Nico didn't watch her leave. She was honestly glad that she managed to scare that girl off; she likely meant well, without intent to harm, in the grand scheme of it all, but she was yet another person who looked at Nico more for her height and figure than for the person she really was. Mizuki wasn't the only one either.

Aikawa Ryou, a third-year theater club member and well-known playgirl, had attempted to seduce Nico more than once, even while wearing the fashionable 'handsome butler' uniform from her most popular performances. She knew how to behave and speak like a gentleman prince straight out of a fantasy novel, spewing out phrases like 'let's fly away to the dazzling world of our dreams' with half-closed eyes and a coy smile. However, she was clearly drawn to Nico by the sight of her body first and foremost.

There was the Student Disciplinary Council, whose leader always had a definite bone to pick with her. Little Fukuhara Mikoto was always railing on her about 'decency' and 'moral obligations' when it came to her appearance, but Nico suspected that the first-year was simply jealous that she still looked like she belonged in Elementary when another girl only two years older than her was gravure model-worthy. Not that Nico ever wanted to be that nor did she flaunt it, but Mikoto seemed to think that way. The other members of the council were no better; Chizuko always wanted to 'hug' her, while Hitomi was challenging her to fights with a blush on her cheeks.

Nico stood perfectly still, her eyes staring at nothing as she looked at the opposite end of the hall. Now that she realized it, even when the idol group first began and muse had been formed, the other girls had never once attempted to take advantage of her height or her frame. Maki, who had been her friend for longer than high school even, had always treated her with kindness and respect. The only one who ever looked at her like a sex object was Umi, of course, but she harassed everyone in that way, so it didn't count for her.

'Am I really thinking about leaving them...?' she thought. 'Would I really leave Maki?'

Nico thought back on the things Maki had said before, the things she had said thinking they wouldn't leave such a deep scar in Nico's heart, things that had nothing to do with height or breasts but everything to do with their perspective chances in ever being a couple. Nico could really use some sweet chocolate croissants to help calm her brain down right now. It might even help fill that gap in her heart too.

The school bell rang. Nico checked the time on her phone and discovered class would begin soon. With little other choice, she turned and ran. If she was lucky, she could make it in time before her name was called. Thankfully the first letter in her name was so far down the alphabet.


	8. Chapter 8

Maki was sitting opposite Honoka with a heavy pout and eyes brimming with tears. The second-year sighed. She was just at as much of a loss as the redhead was, even though she was the one who should be trying to comfort her underclassman right now.

"You...you've known Maki since before coming to Otonokizaka?" Honoka asked her, the first thing she could think of. Back in the world she'd come from, Nico and Maki did not become friends until the latter joined the school idol club. Much of their relationship was rather different in this alternate reality compared to the original one that Honoka was familiar with, now that she thought about it. The two of them were exceptionally close here, almost like sisters, from how it seemed. However, maybe even her strong connection with Maki would not be enough for Nico to remain a idol for much longer.

"We've known each other since we were kids. Our moms are friends, so we had a lot of play-dates together, and we went to the same kindergarten and elementary school too. We've always been friends. I remember that Nico used to be smaller than me, although we were two years apart. She suddenly went through a big growth spurt during school. It seemed weird to a lot of people but it never bothered me. I think she's always been sensitive about the subject though. It might have to do with why she was talking about leaving the group..."

"Nico doesn't like being big?" Honoka never thought she'd hear such a thing and be expected to believe it. The Nico she knew would have probably killed, or at least attempt it, to have even a modicum of the height that her alternate self here possessed, or at least to own the kind of sizable bust that would have even frightened off Nozomi from trying to grope it. This world was still so much stranger than the second-year could have expected. A meeting between this Nico and her Nico would probably end up destroying the world, and not just because it would be splitting the space-time continuum.

"She has a sexy body, but she's always been sensitive." Maki replied.

Honoka sighed. She had no idea how to appeal to the heart of a young and emotional maiden like that. When she managed it back in her world, it had mostly been due to dumb luck and her just speaking her mind. The 'charm' that had won over Kotori and Umi as a child and had won over Eri and the other girls for the idol group was nothing but Honoka trying her best to appeal to their emotions and their inner-desires, all without her actually knowing what she was doing in the first place. She didn't know how to help someone with such a personal crisis. None of her friends had ever had body issues like this before. She was a little jealous of Nico's physique too, she couldn't help but admit.

"Honoka, you'll help me, right? I...I don't want Nico to be sad..." Maki started to sniffle again, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

"We'll figure something out! I promise!" Honoka swore to her.

"What are you two talking about?" Minalinsky asked, dressed in a full maid outfit, which allowed her to stand out rather easily among the other students in their uniforms.

"Ah! Koto - er, Minalinsky! We need your help! Please!" Honoka could only hope that, even in spite of her split-personality, Kotori was still as dependable of a friend as she had been in the original world. A little voice in the back of Honoka's mind reminded her that Kotori had been one of first who suggested disbanding the idol group back at their meeting a few days ago. Honoka blanched.

"Honoka, what's going on? What do you need me to do?" Minalinsky demanded to know.

Honoka drew back. "Um...w-well...Maki and I were just talking...about nothing in particular..."

"What about Nico? I think I saw her on the way to class, but she was heading for the bathroom then."

"Do you think she's still there?"

"Probably not. Homeroom is going to begin soon. You should probably head to your class quickly, Maki, before you get in trouble."

"Ah! You're right! I-I'm sorry!" Maki stood up. She bowed to Honoka. "Thank you very much for listening to me! We'll talk again soon, hopefully! Um, excuse me!"

The redhead dashed off, leaving Honoka alone with Minalinsky, much to the former's chagrin. She'd never believed she could feel so uncomfortable in the presence of Minami Kotori as she did right now. It made Honoka's heart ache to have to accept that truth; if Tsubasa were here right now, she might consider Kotori an 'enemy', one who is attempting to impede on their goal of strengthening the bonds of Muse and competing in the Love Live. The orange-haired girl tried not to match eyes with Minalinsky, but then the maid sat down in Maki's formerly-occupied seat, basically forcing their stares to connect. Honoka gulped. There was something about Kotori's golden eyes that unnerved her, but she had a feeling it was partially because of the Minalinsky persona, if not entirely because of it.

"Honoka, what's going on? What were you talking to Maki about? Why did you ask me for my help and then immediately change your mind? If you ever need anything, anything at all, I'm willing to help you, Honoka." Minalinsky was quick to assure the other girl.

"O-Oh, thanks, Mina, but...I'm fine, really...I, um, I just were hoping you had some medicine or something, since I was having a bad case of gas, but it went away about the time you showed up!" Honoka wanted to punch herself for coming up with such a humiliating lie. She normally got gas after eating too much of her mother's cooking, the pancakes for breakfast included, but...no, this wasn't the time to try and reason it to herself, she thought!

Minalinsky's brow furrowed, eyebrows knitting close together. "Mina...?"

"Eh? Oh, I thought it would be easier to say than saying 'Minalinsky' all of the time. Is that okay with you? I...I suppose I should have asked first before calling you that without warning, huh?"

Minalinsky smiled.

"If that's all, then it's fine."

Honoka felt the corners of her mouth gradually begin to lift. "Y...Yeah..."

Minalinsky continued to smile innocently. "Now tell me what it was that you and Maki were talking about."

"Gah...!"

Honoka nearly toppled out of her seat. She froze in place, her hands jutting out in front of her, eyes bulging wide and her jaw hanging open. She could hear nothing but the fierce and violent pounding of her heart echoing inside her ears. For a brief moment, no more than a split-second, Minalinsky's face had changed. It was something that Honoka could never had anticipated though, as the very sight of it made her heart nearly leap out of her chest. Her chest itself physically hurt from the shock she'd gotten, the terror settling its roots deep into her mind as the memory cemented itself there. Even then, Honoka wasn't 100-percent sure what it was she saw, she could hardly believe it.

It was like the skin on the silver-haired girl's face had spontaneously melted away, revealing the bloody muscle tissue underneath. Sunken, black holes where the eyes should have been, and jagged, blood-stained teeth like a baboon's. Honoka could only imagine seeing something so horrible in her worst dreams, yet for some reason, that repulsive visage had been Kotori's face for a second.

Minalinsky tilt her head. "Honoka? Are you alright?"

Honoka tried to calm herself down. "I'm..." she stopped to cough. "I'm okay, ha ha. No, it's nothing, Ko - I mean, Mina! I...I got a bug caught in my throat!"

"You're being weird, Honoka." Minalinsky shook her head. "But alright, it's fine. I'm sure Kotori would be fine with it as well. Of course, I obviously am. So, let's go back to our original conversation. You were talking about Nico, weren't you?"

"H-Huh?" Honoka could feel the pounding of her heart beginning to slow back down to its normal rhythm. "What do you mean...?"

"You said you weren't talking about anything, but I heard you mention Nico's name when I was walking over."

"Oh..."

"So you and Maki think there's some problem with her? Did she say something about the idol group? She was one of those who voted to stay in back at our club meeting."

Honoka, still shaken by the horrid vision and unable to talk her way out of Minalinsky's unyielding gaze, felt like she had no choice but to confess. "Y-Yeah...Nico said that she'd thought about quitting...we don't know why..."

"Maybe it's because she's been approached by so many others to join their clubs instead? Like Kikkawa Mizuki from the basketball club and Aikawa Ryou from the drama club."

"Uh...yeah..." Honoka had no idea who either of those two girls were. Did people like them attend Otonokizaka back in the original world?

"Honoka, I know I said I think the idol club should disband..."

"...You did..." Honoka lowered her head into her chest.

"But if you want to help Nico, I'll give you a suggestion. Because I care about you."

Honoka instantly whipped her head back up, eyes alight. "You will?"

"Why don't you just rely on your usual method?" Minalinsky winked.

"My...usual method?" Honoka didn't know if singing, dancing and prancing about would help solve Nico's self-confidence and body issues.

"I mean the club that you were apart of before you became a school idol!" Minalinsky continued to offer hints.

Honoka flashed a sheepish grin. "Can I have one more clue...?"

Minalinsky was smiling, but her eyes no longer seemed amused by her friend's lack of understanding.

"Kendo, is what I'm trying to say, Honoka."

* * *

><p>Tsubasa had skipped school that morning, but she'd neglected to tell Honoka. She hadn't forgotten, but simply chose not to tell her. She knew that Honoka would be concerned and make a fuss if she knew that Tsubasa was going to skip; Tsubasa didn't wish to cause any such complication between her and the other girl. It would be better if one of them attended school while the other explored the town. That way the two of them would be able to accomplish much more in terms of investigation, so they could properly exchange notes afterward. Tsubasa had read enough detective novels throughout her childhood to know that what she was doing was surely the correct method.<p>

Tsubasa made her way for the edge of town, toward the bridge where she and Honoka had met only to be interrupted by the latter's friend. A little query had been prickling at the back of her brain since she woke up that morning, so she wished to go and confirm it. As she walked through town, she could see that mostly everything appeared similar to how it had once been in the original world, but at the same time, it was exceptionally different, especially for Tsubasa herself. As the leader of the popular school idol group A-Rise, Tsubasa could hardly walk around town a lot without being hounded by fans or stalkers of all sorts. That was how it had once been, anyway. In this world, where A-Rise did not even bother entering the Love Live competition, Tsubasa was about as acknowledged as a stray piece of trash lying in the street.

She did not know how to feel about this, whether she cherished the privacy or agonized over the lost attention.

Tsubasa started to pick up speed as she crossed the street, the bridge coming into view. If she could cross over it, she would eventually enter into Akibahara, the infamous otaku district. Tsubasa ran faster and faster, her shoes barely touching the pavement. She needed to see for herself that it was still there. She had to confirm, with her own eyes and her own brain, that this world wasn't really half as crazy as she was beginning to suspect it was.

Tsubasa stopped, standing at the edge of what should have been a bridge. Instead, all she saw was endless, white desert before her. The sun was several times larger than it had been a moment ago, beating down upon her with its searing hot rays of ultraviolet light.

"What the hell is this?" she said aloud.

Seemingly materializing out of thin air, Erena and Anju approached the girl from behind, dressed in leather jackets and pants. "Don't worry about it, babe. Why don't you come along with us? We need to talk to you about your truancy, you know?"


	9. Chapter 9

"Erena...Anju..."

Tsubasa felt her breath catch itself in her throat. She glanced over her shoulder. The desert was still there, so real-looking that she could reach down and run her fingers through the soft, white sand and actually feel it cling and crumble in her hands. The sun was still pounding down onto the back of her neck, caking it in a film of sticky sweat. The air itself seemed heavier than it usually was, even in a hot climate like this. A gust blew behind her, spattering her uniform with sand and dust, turning the pristine white a dull yellow. She couldn't bring herself to look at the desert again, whipping her head back so fast that she nearly snapped her neck.

Tsubasa was afraid she might start letting out a strangled scream the moment she opened her mouth again; she was shaking so bad. She gripped her fists, nails digging into her pale, callous-ridden palms. She had to stay strong. She couldn't let herself be driven mad by the insanity abound.

Erena and Anju approached her. They were clad in black leather jackets, tight leather pants, and finger-less gloves with pictures of skulls on the knuckles. They were dressed like stereotypical bikers, even though neither of them were old enough to have a license or afford such a vehicle in the first place. Anju popped her bubblegum over and over, clicking it between her teeth with her eyes hidden behind giant shades, as Erena pounded her fist into her palm in a mildly threatening manner.

"Tsubasa, the teacher sent us to find you. We never thought a proper chick like you would ditch school. I mean, we don't even like wearing our school uniforms; everyone thought we'd be the big, bad truants, but instead, you're the one to take the dive first. Didn't think you had it in ya." Erena shook her head.

"Did you see that desert just now...?" Tsubasa asked, pointing behind her. She was starting to calm down, but she still wanted to know what the hell it was that she'd just seen moments ago.

"Desert? What are you talking about?" Anju snapped, rolling her wad of gum around on her tongue. "You're being crazy, girl. Deserts don't exist in Japan!"

"What? Listen to yourself, you bitch! Are you stupid? There's sand dunes in Tottori Prefecture!" Erena barked at her.

"What? What? You expect me to bother knowing something pointless like that?"

"I expect you to at least be a little smarter than THIS!"

Tsubasa sighed. She was getting a migraine listening to these two. They were far, FAR different from the two girls she'd called her best friends back in the original world. She'd thought it was bad the first time she'd discovered it, but now it seemed as if these two were intentionally behaving in the most obnoxious way possible.

"Did you two really come here to get me? I mean, why would you bother doing that? You're basically ditching school too."

"Like I said," Erena groaned, as if she were trying to communicate with a moron. "The teacher sent us!"

"Besides, we're your friends, aren't we? Of course we'd want to be the ones to make sure nothing happened to ya." Anju added.

"We're friends...?" Tsubasa never thought she'd be so incredulous to have to question the claim of friendship from either Erena or Anju until now.

Erena threw her hands into the air. "Of course we're friends, dummy! You may be the kind of chick who doesn't wear leather well, but we like you, you know."

Anju nodded, twirling a finger lazily through a lock of hair. "Yeah, we even put up with all of that school idol crap for ya! You got to give us props for that at least,"

"We didn't even try to qualify for the Love Live at all," Tsubasa pointed out.

"W-Well, we joined the club for you, yeah...but we weren't about to go and humiliate ourselves on stage in those frilly little outfits, showing off our bums and all..." said Erena bashfully as she turned her head away. Anju popped another gum bubble.

Tsubasa was shaking. She didn't want to accept any of this, but all of it seemed far too real for her liking. There had to be some kind of explanation. Any rationale that could explain the utter insanity that she was experiencing. Suddenly, it hit her. She was actually surprised for a second that she didn't make this sort of conclusion any earlier than now.

"Oh, wait...I think I get it..." Tsubasa brought a hand to her mouth.

"The hell you say just now, babe?" Erena cocked her head.

Tsubasa started to grin behind her hand. "This...this is all a dream, isn't it? A really intense, realistic kind of dream that I'm having?"

"A dream?"

"It would explain so much! It would explain why there's no explanation for anything!" Tsubasa declared. "It...it all makes sense, because it doesn't make any sense!"

"You're the one not making any sense here." Anju said.

Tsubasa continued, "This has to be a dream, right? I must be in a really deep sleep, or maybe I hit my head! I'm simply dreaming! Isn't that the real truth of this world, Erena? Anju?"

Erena and Anju looked at one another.

"You hesitated. That could only mean two things, right?" Tsubasa's heart started to pound with the boom of a tribal drum, her ears flooding with the sound. Her smile became more and more forced until it finally collapsed under the weight of her own realizations. "Please...you got to be serious..."

"Tsubasa, you're starting to freak me the hell out!"

"Either you two don't know whether or not this is a dream, or this actually isn't my dream at all...and if the latter is true, then that would mean..."

Something cracked. Tsubasa didn't hear it, she didn't even necessarily feel it physically, but she knew that something inside her had been thrown to the ground and completely shattered into a million, desperate little pieces. Her mind was already scrambling to put those pieces back together, but Tsubasa could barely keep her bottom lip from trembling.

"...Am I another figment of this dream too?" she asked, and she didn't know if she should desire the answer or if it would be so much better for her poor, fragile sanity if she was kept in the dark about it.

"No one said anything about dreams. But now I will! My 'dream' is that you'll stop yapping freaky nonsense and come along like a good, little girl!" Erena emphasized 'good little girl' with the pounding of her fist into her palm as she spoke each word. Her scowl became so deeply defined that the straining of her features could possibly become permanent.

Anju continued to absent-mindedly pop her gum, but she too looked unhappy.

Tsubasa backed away. These girls had claimed several times that they were her best friends, but Tsubasa could not think of them as friends, no matter what they said or what they wanted her to think. If this was actually her dream, then she was both disappointed and disgusted in herself for depicting Erena and Anju in this kind of way. They deserved so much better.

Spinning on her heel, Tsubasa took off to the right toward the closest building she could spot, standing at the edge of the concrete and the desert sand. Erena shouted after her, but it seemed to only spur Tsubasa on even faster. The two girls in biker gear ran after her, but the advantage of a head-start proved to cause them more trouble than they would have expected. Because she took being a school idol seriously, Tsubasa had gone through extensive physical training to ensure she possessed the maximum amount of stamina possible, so she could dance long after the song finally stopped playing. It had given her a lean, slightly muscular build; it was normally concealed underneath her school uniform, or behind the many adorable outfits she wore on stage. Tsubasa could not have been more glad she'd kept herself in good health until right now.

Tsubasa left behind the sounds of her 'friends' huffing and puffing, gasping for air as if they'd never run a single lap in their whole lives, as she darted around the building and eventually slipped herself into an alleyway sandwiched between two offices. Eclipsed by the shadows cast from the massive structures, Tsubasa felt only slightly more at ease, her mind racing as she thought about everything that had transpired so far.

No one confirmed or denied that this was a dream, but there was no reason not to consider that it very well could be one. If it was a dream, Tsubasa could only hope that it was her own dream. At least that way, it would make things a little less horrifying. If this was someone else's dream, whether Honoka's or another person's altogether, then that meant she was nothing more than another part of the dream too. Her body, her mind, her thoughts and her words, all of it was actually under the control of someone else's subconscious. Tsubasa shuddered. A 'truth' like that...she didn't want it to be real. What was really going on here?

'No, I have to keep it together. I have to work with Honoka to figure this out. I need...'

Tsubasa breathed out.

'I need to see her. I need to see Honoka.'

Unfortunately, she couldn't exactly waltz into Otonokizaka Academy and speak to the girl face-to-face, even when it would have been the simplest method. For one thing, she had intentionally kept silent on the fact that she would be skipping school, and knowing Honoka like she did, the other girl wouldn't take kindly to it. She couldn't text her since she was probably in the middle of class. She couldn't go back to UTX or else she'd have to deal with Erena and Anju, who have apparently lost her trail.

Tsubasa did not slow up with her sprint as she turned another corner. She would go wherever her legs took her.

When she finally did stop to catch her breath, she found herself sweating and kneeling over in front of a little wagashi shop named 'Homura'.

'This...isn't this where Honoka's family works?'

Suddenly, a man emerged, like a great white giant in his working apron, pushing aside the sliding door with a quick thrust of his giant hand. Tsubasa gasped. Even though his eyes were masked under the shadow cast by his uniform's headgear, the stone-faced figure was clearly Honoka's father. He stared straight ahead at Tsubasa, his lips seemingly caught in a perpetual frown. Not a single muscle on his face so much as twitched. Tsubasa noticed that he was holding a rolling pin in his other hand. Tsubasa could only silently pray that Honoka's father was not an enemy like her former best friends were.

Then, the man beckoned her inside. He was treating her as if she were any ordinary customer. Tsubasa blinked, not having expected this kind of reaction from Honoka's father.

Unsure of what else to do, hoping she could hide out here until Honoka returned from school, she accepted the baker's offer.

"Um, th-thank you very much for this, sir. Please excuse the intrusion." Tsubasa bowed her head.

Tsubasa hurried inside, past the large man and into the little shop. Honoka's father looked up and down the length of the road, saw no one was coming, before he followed suit.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Any characters who appear in this story outside of the anime-specific ones are featured in the mobile phone game of the Love Live franchise.

* * *

><p>Honoka wanted to cry. She didn't want to be standing here in the middle of the kendo club's practice room, decked out in full kendo gear, a kendo sword clasped loosely in her trembling hands. She shouldn't have been doing this, it wasn't right. She hadn't argued or spoken a word edge-wise when Kotori talked her into the idea. In fact, it had sounded quite viable at the time, but she was beginning to reconsider the actual likelihood of success. Honoka had beaten the odds stacked against her to become a real school idol, but the achievement she was expected to achieve here was like going up against a ten thousand A-Rises all by herself.<p>

She had never held a sword in her life, not even a bamboo sword as completely harmless as this one. She'd never fought in a kendo match before against a single opponent, but now she was being expected to combat two at the very same time. That is to say, the two women who so wished to win Yazawa Nico over to their side: Kikkawa Mizuki and Aikawa Ryou. Kotori's plan was a match involving the three of them fighting for the right to take the third-year under their wing.

According to Kotori, and Honoka severely doubted her friend's merits as someone trustworthy by this point, Honoka herself had once been an exceptionally talented member of the kendo club before leaving to become an idol.

"I still don't feel comfortable allowing this, even if this isn't an official match." Kadota Tsurugi, a residing member of the school's kendo club and the one that Kotori had commissioned to prepare this three-way duel, stood off on the sidelines with the others. Kotori smiled back at her, having returned to her school uniform again.

"It's not even going to be close to an official match. I thought it was the closest thing to a 'battle' for Nico that I could set up, when we live in a first-world society like this."

"Well, it is safe...even if someone gets knocked down, with all of that gear, it isn't going to leave much more than a light bruise at worst..."

"Exactly!"

"Still, it's not the injuries I'm upset about! I'm upset about the lack of appreciation for the rules of kendo! There's a proper way you're supposed to do things, and having some kind of 'brawl' with very important, and very expensive, equipment is not the right way to go about it!"

"If we take time by having them duel one at a time, it will take too long."

"Yes...but still...!"

"Shut your pie-hole, will ya? Griping all the time when it isn't going to change anything!" Hanayo snapped, making Tsurugi jump. Umi, Hanayo, Rin and Eri had also gathered at the kendo club-room to act as spectators by request of Kotori, although Nozomi, Maki and Nico herself still appeared to be absent. Maki was supposed to fetch Nico wherever she may have been, but the redhead had yet to return.

Honoka groaned; it would be so much more meaningful if Nico was here to see how hard she was trying for her sake.

"D-Do you two even know anything about kendo either...?" Honoka asked Mizuki and Ryou. They were in the middle of dressing themselves in the appropriate gear.

"I used to learn it alongside my brother before I took up basketball." Mizuki replied.

"I once had to learn it for a role in a play." said Ryou.

Honoka really wanted to start crying. Why did Kotori say that she was any good at this? Was there actually a Honoka that had existed in this world before she'd appeared here and replaced her? Had that Honoka been some sort of badass who was both an efficient leader and a kendo master? Why couldn't she ever have adopted any of those skills? She wished she could have called Tsubasa, or even texted her, for some much-needed aid, but she didn't want to interrupt her while she was in class. She would have felt so much better if she had Tsubasa by her side right now.

"You know, you really are quite an adorable, young beauty yourself, Miss Kosaka." Ryou chuckled, flashing a flirty smirk as she slipped the mask over her face.

Honoka blushed. "What?"

"Are you sure you wouldn't wish to join me on the stage instead, where we can dance about under the twinkling stage lights hand in hand, moving in tandem to each other's flighty steps as our souls instead of our bodies contended with one another?"

"H-Huh...?"

"Hey, stop sucking up to her with all of your nonsense talk, you're confusing her. Besides, you're not going to be dancing for much long after I'm through with you, Miss Theater." Mizuki remarked before putting on her own mask.

"...Forgive me, Miss Basketball." Ryou offered a slight bow, although it seemed done half-assed.

Umi sighed as she huddled up against the matted wall, her knees drawn into her chest. She was disappointed.

"...Not even a little bit of bare skin..."

She glanced over at Rin, who was standing, and her eyes gradually traveled up the length of the first year's slender, white legs and toward her skirt, Umi's golden orbs gradually widening as she caught just the barest hint of-

Rin looked down at the bluenette. Umi's head was turned away. Scoffing aloud for no reason, Rin resumed texting on her phone. Umi breathed a sigh of relief; she'd managed to avert her eyes at the very least second, avoiding a confrontation. Still, she had seen enough to keep her satisfied for a time, even if Honoka, Ryou and Mizuki would be combating fully-clothed.

"Oh, this is just like my American cartoons," Eri readjusted her glasses. "Who knows who will have the strength, and the almighty courage, to hand out the first blow?"

Umi snickered into her hands at the word 'blow'.

Rin rolled her eyes. "Well, we better get this over with quickly, I'm getting my nails done later, and then me and that transfer student Marissa are going out to look for clothes."

"You're hanging out with transfer students now?" Hanayo asked her.

"Why not? She's a new girl, a foreign girl. Something wrong with wanting to make her feel welcome?"

Hanayo shrugged and shoved her hands down into her pockets. "N-Nothing wrong with that, it's just..."

"Just what?"

"Tch. Forget it."

"Fine!"

Suddenly, the club-room doors burst open, as if pushed by a violent gust, but it was even worse than that; the student disciplinary committee, or the 'student militant police squad' as they were sometimes referred, had managed to catch wind of the event themselves.

"Stop right there!" Fukuhara Mikoto blew on her whistle. "This is...this is not only an abuse of school property outside of the designated club schedule, but it is so many other issues that I'm going to need to break out the rule book just to list them all off!"

"Now, now, Mikoto, it's not nice for you to start throwing accusations out so wildly. I'm sure they have a good reason." Sakamaki Chizuko stroked the much smaller girl's head, as if she were petting a feisty animal in an attempt to calm it down.

Shiga Hitomi started cracking her knuckles when she saw the three girls clad in kendo gear. "It looks like we have some kind of fight going on, doesn't it?"

"Indeed it does!" Mikoto agreed with her.

"This...this is..." Tsurugi looked over to Kotori for some aid, but the silver-haired girl remained silent, literally looking away so their eyes would not meet.

"I want to get in on this!" Hitomi said, a remark that surprised everyone in the room, from the school idols to Hitomi's own companions.

"W-What? Shiga Hitomi, I refuse...!"

Hitomi placed a firm hand onto Mikoto's shoulder. "It won't take too long. I'll round them up for you, okay?"

A hot blush spread across Mikoto's face with the speed of a wildfire. "O...Okay...fine! Fine, if you have to fight, then do it quickly!"

"Thanks!"

Chizuko giggled behind Mikoto's back as Hitomi stepped onto the mat. "You like the bad ones after all, don't you, Mikoto? Is that why you joined the committee, to pick up girls?"

"I'll...I'll have to write you up for throwing slander like that, Chizuko! Y-you better watch your step!"

Honoka was genuinely suffering a panic attack right now. "What? What? What? I have to fight THREE of them now? What?"

"Don't worry, Honoka! This way it makes things more even!" Kotori called from the sidelines.

"I don't want things to be more even, I want things to be more fair!"

"Hey, this isn't any better for either of us, you know!" Mizuki pointed out, upon which Ryou nodded in agreement.

"You three yapping about something?" Hitomi stepped forward, wielding a red baton covered in nubs likely meant to resemble spikes; it was very much in appearance to the spiked clubs wielded by the Oni of ancient Japanese folklore. It didn't look particularly dangerous, but it would likely not be very fun to be struck by it either without the kendo gear protecting their bodies.

"What are you doing?" Ryou asked when she noticed that Hitomi wasn't wearing the equipment.

"I'm not even going to bother putting on the gear or getting the right weapon. All I need is this," she pointed at her baton, "And this!" she thrust a thumb at her own chest.

"A real show-off!" cried Mizuki.

"Ahh..." Honoka was even more terrified of her than the other two, if she's really so confident to win a kendo match without any of the officially-sanctioned gear.

"My, my, how attractive," Ryou sneered behind her mask.

Mikoto and Chizuko moved over to the side of the room where the rest of the spectators stood, although the former tried to make it seem like it had been by a very begrudging decision that they were standing in this specific spot. They would wait until Hitomi had finished subduing the unruly ones, then they would take the rest away, as long as they were willing to go without a fight.

Mikoto looked Hanayo over once. "So you're still going to reject the school dress code even after all of our previous talks, Miss Koizumi?"

Hanayo glared.

"You too, Miss Hoshizora. I can't say that I approve of all of the make-up and hair-clips you wear in excess either."

Rin bit down on her lower lip.

Hanayo, cupping her hands around her mouth, shouted over to the idol group's center, "Hey, Honoka! Kick their asses! All three of 'em, but especially the chick on the disciplinary committee!"

"You can do it, Honoka! Beat 'em up!" Rin joined in.

The two trouble-making girls flashed cheeky grins back at Mikoto, who silently started to fume to herself. Chizuko led her away by the hand.

Honoka sniffed. She was glad that (apparently) Rin and Hanayo were supporting her now, but this was still something far out of her league. This was not going to be a kendo match for her, or for anyone. It was just going to be a senseless, rule-less fight.

'That Chizuko girl...her boobs are huge...not as big as Nico's, but still...' Umi was already feeling smitten.

Finally, the match began, but it was not christened with a starting gun or a ringing bell. It simply started, as would be expected for a four-person match of contention that had no ground in sportsmanship anyway. Kotori had probably planned it to be this way, Honoka thought dishearteningly. Almost immediately, Mizuki, Ryou and Hitomi lunged for Honoka at once; they were all well aware that she was the 'weakest link' here in this four-person duel. Honoka raised the bamboo sword and steeled herself to be pounded upon. She was afraid she'd end up with her bruises, her skin had always been sensitive. The poor second-year shut her eyes so she could brace herself; she had no idea why Kotori had to suggest something so cruel, or why she'd let Kotori talk her into it in the first place. Honoka was no great leader nor was she a great kendo swordsman. She could barely hold up the shinai while wearing such a heavy, stifling armor.

There was no way she could win...even though...she so desperately wanted Nico to stay in the club...she didn't want it to end...she didn't want to have to disband...and lose her friends...her precious friends...

Nico! Maki! Rin! Umi! Eri! Hanayo! Nozomi! Kotori!

"Ah!"

Honoka swung out in front of her as her first and likely final draw; she was not aiming for anyone in particular, but simply hoping she would make a hit.

Ryou dropped to the mat. Mizuki and Hitomi both stopped to look down at her, equally stunned as they were.

"The ethereal stars of heavens above..." Ryou choked out as she shakily raised her arm, reaching out to the ceiling, "They're beckoning me...to join them..." and then she lost consciousness.

Honoka was panting heavily, even though she'd done no more than a single swing of her blade. She was trembling. Something...something had awoken inside of her, for that moment. In fact, she was quite sure that it was still awakening.

From off on the sidelines, Kotori was smirking to herself as she tapped away on the keys of her cellphone.

* * *

><p>Maki looked at the time on her phone. She was already late to the kendo match, but she'd yet to locate her friend. Not even sending texts or trying to call seemed to work.<p>

"Nico!" Maki shouted out loud, showing a profound lack of concern whether or not she might get in trouble for causing a disruption. There was no need to worry after all; the school day had ended, the only ones remaining behind were the students attending clubs or the disciplinary committee keeping tabs on things.

Maki had checked the bathrooms, the front gates, the alpaca stables, the lunchroom and the gymnasium. She'd checked almost everywhere she could think of, all except the one place that she had the best inkling she'd locate the missing Yazawa at. In truth, Maki was afraid of confronting Nico. She was terrified to hear her friend's reasoning for wanting to leave the idol club, that it might actually have something to do with their long-standing friendship.

A sigh escaped Maki's lips. She was being immature, even for her age. She needed to talk to Nico and not only bring her to see Honoka fight for her sake, but to understand her friend better, to get closer like they should have become after all of these years.

'She's probably on the school roof,' Maki thought to herself, hurrying for the staircase. Nico had always loved high places, something that neither Maki nor Nico herself had missed the irony of. If Nico wasn't there, then there would be nothing that the redhead could do. Everything Honoka and Kotori had planned would end up resulting in absolutely nothing at all.

Nozomi peeked out from behind the corner. She'd heard Maki shouting, and of course, wanting to be a good friend, she felt it was her duty to follow and find out what was wrong. As a third year student, it was up to her to help her underclassmen when they were experiencing troubles.

She just hoped it wasn't romantic troubles. She had no skills in such things, not of the girl-on-girl variety either.


End file.
